Joe was awaken from his horrible sleep by Kevin's voice.

"Happy Birthday!" he said, keeping his voice soft so he didn't wake the rest if the bus. "Now hurry up and get dressed. We've got a handful of interviews this morning."

"Ugh." Joe grounded into his pillow. "What time is it?"

"5 am." Joe sighed; he had only slept for 2 hours.

Barley able to keep control of his legs, he stumbled from his bunk and got dressed. He had been up all night thinking about everything; his life, his brothers, the band, fans, turning 18, and his girlfriend. Bailey. Instantly, a wave of guilt surged throughout him. He thought about what he had said the night before, not knowing why he spazzed on her. He was just aggravated, he didn't mean to take it out on her.

Silently, Joe pulled back the curtain to Bailey's bunk. The guilt added up even more when he saw a light line of dried mascara on her face. He wanted to wake her up and apologize like crazy, but he was leaving and her body looked too peaceful and still to disturb. Plus, he knew that purposely waking her up 5 hours earlier than normal would be suicide. Add on the fact that she was already pissed at him and that there would be a Devil's Trap. Instead, he leaned in over top of her calm body and softly kissed her cheek.

"Come on!" Kevin hissed from the front of the bus. Quickly, Joe pulled away and waved him off. "And tell Nick to hurry up with Frankie." he said, stepping off the bus.

After glancing around the bus, Joe grabbed a napkin and a pen that were on the counter. Leaning down towards the surface, he left a little note for Bailey.

'Bails,
I <3 you!

-Joe'


Smiling, he left the napkin next to her favorite box of cereal on the counter before heading to the back lounge.

"Nick, let's go." he said, then made his was off of the bus.

"Alright Frankie, come on." Nick sighed, turning off the PlayStaion2. He then saw that his little brother had a chocolate ring around his mouth from the box of doughnuts that were in his hands. "Ew, and wipe your face."

He waved for Frankie to follow him off the bus. Trailing through the kitchen area, Frankie snatched up the napkin Joe has just written on and cleaned his mouth. After tossing it into the trashcan in the front, he trotted behind Nick to the van.

- - - -

"Stupid phone!" Bailey awoke at the sound of Mandy's voice, then heard a thud. Slowly, she climbed out of the bunk and walked into the back room to see Mandy sprawled out on the leather couch. "Sorry." she said, realizing she had woken her.

Bailey chuckled. "It's cool." she made her way over and fell back onto the couch, grabbing the blanket that was draped over the side. "What time is it?"

"10:07ish." she replied, causing Bailey to laugh.

"So where's -"

"They have interviews." Mandy sighed, letting her head fall onto the pillow under her chin as she laid on her stomach. "Alllllllll morning. Poor Joe, -" she now had Bailey's full attention. "- having to spend his birthday talking to strangers. So, are you going to tell me what happened between you two now?"

Mandy listened intently as Bailey told her everything that had happened the night before. How Joe had randomly freaked out on her, said how everyone needed to leave him alone, etc. Mandy was shocked.

"That was stupid of him." she sounded a bit angry. "I know it was wrong for him to talk to you like that, but I also know he didn't mean any of it."

Bailey sighed. "I know, but still. It hurt." Mandy looked at her in sympathy. "Have you talked to him today?"

"He left a note saying that they'd be out all day doing interviews." she shrugged. "I called him after I woke up, but it went straight to voicemail."

"I guess I'll give him a try." Bailey stated, getting up from the couch and grabbing her phone. She wasn't even worried about being mad at him anymore. It was stupid and she figured he was over his little mood swing as well.

Bailey exhaled with a bit of force after listening to his answering machine. Hanging up, she made her way back to Mandy and shook her head.

- - - - -

"Yes! Lunchtime." Bailey exclaimed, jogging through the hall with Mandy. Ross had them set up for four hours working around the venue; talking to different people, gathering paperwork, and a few other things. It was going on 2pm and the girls were starving.

"I swear, there better be lunchmeat left. If not, I blame you." Mandy stated, trying to sound mean. It didn't work out that well because Bailey ended up chuckling.

"-And how would that be my fault?"

"Because, if you hadn't ended up having your little dance-fest while filing those papers, then we would've been here thirty minutes ago, with guaranteed lunchmeat." she stuck her nose in the air and turned away from Bailey.

"Hey! You were dancing too." she laughed, remembering the 'funky chicken' that she had ended up doing to Hannah Montana's "Nobody's Perfect".

"Psh. Did you call him again?" Mandy asked, changing the subject, looking over at her as they entered the room where the traditional buffet tables were set up just like every other show.

Shaking her head, Bailey pulled out her phone and looked up Joe's number. She had been thinking about him all day, but she couldn't get a hold of him. She just wanted to talk to him about the argument last night and make sure that he was doing alright. Not to mention, she still had yet to tell him 'Happy Birthday'.

"Voicemail, again." Bailey sighed again and slammed her phone shut. "This su -" she started, but stop once she turned into a big, burley dude who quickly came around the corner, knocking her off her feet.

"I'm so sorry, miss!" the guy was quick to speak before hurrying off on his cell phone with a handful of papers in his arms.

Mandy looked down and laughed at her. "Are you alright?" she asked, reaching her hands out for her to grab. Bailey nodded, then pulled herself up. Whimpering, she looked down at the ground. "Really, are you ok?"

"My cell phone." she said a little over-dramatically, reaching down to see her phone snapped in half from where the had landed. "Leave it up to my ass to break my own phone."

"Literally." Mandy chuckled, then got a glare from Bailey. "Hey! I don't have a phone either. I accidentally fried the Sim Card earlier." It was Bailey's turn to laugh. "That's not funny!"


"Whatever." she smiled, shaking her head. "Ha. Looks like they have a little bit of lunchmeat left." With that, Mandy left her side and rushed up to the table, grabbing a roll and making her way to the tray.

After their forty-five minute break, the girls trailed back into the hallway. Mandy was still a little excited that she had eaten her lunchmeat, but Bailey was still a bit bummed that she hadn't heard from Joe. She couldn't even get a hold of Nick or Kevin either, and she didn't know why. Maybe they really did have interviews all day, or maybe they were avoiding her. Instantly, a bit of weight was added to her back as she thought about the possibilities. She shook them off, knowing she'd see them eventually; either right before the show for the night, or during it as she stood with her hand-dandy, non-purposefully clipboard and headset.

"Ladies! Good to see you up and working today." Ross exclaimed, walking into them on the opposite side of the hallway. Bailey faked a smile since her mind was everywhere but on her work. "Great! Ms.Baker, ready for something new?" he asked a bit excitedly.

"Not really." she muttered.

"Splendid!" he clapped his hands. Bailey shot Mandy a look as if to say, 'Are you kidding me?', but her face was already shouting that. "Here." Ross said, handing her the keys to his Chevy Cobalt. "I need you to run out and do me a favor." he looked at Bailey.

"-And that favor would consist of. . ." she trailed off, looking at him expectantly.

- - - - -

"Sweet old bus, how I missed you so." Joe cooed, hugging the rear end of the tour bus after exiting the van that just entered the venue parking lot.

"Quit messing around. We go on in 15 minutes! We're already running late." Nick exclaimed, quickly making his way inside.

"Whatever." he mumbled, slowly following behind his brother, keeping a look out for his girlfriend. All he could think about all day was her. He hoped to get a phone call after she found his little note, but he hadn't. He didn't even receive any voicemails, but then again he knew that she hated leaving those, so he didn't think twice.

Walking around the venue for about 10 minutes, Joe had no luck in finding Bailey. After asking around, no one had claimed seeing her. He couldn't even find Mandy. His right-hand-man/girl was nowhere to be found. The only thing he could think of was that they were mad at him. Scratching his head in frustration, he jumped about a foot in the air as someone poked his sides from behind. Kevin burst out into hysterics as Joe straightened out his shirt, trying to play off the fact that he was just startled.

"Not cool." Joe state bluntly, crossing his arms.

"Whatever." he laughed. "Come on."

Making their way backstage, the boys were getting pumped up on the sides; jumping around, shaking their bodies in weird ways. They had been sitting all day; it was finally their turn to rock out and have a little fun doing what they do best.

Once he was able to, Joe got a good view of the crowd from the side stage. Smiling, he noticed Mandy standing at the foot of the stage with a clipboard and headset, but frowned once he noticed it wasn't Bailey. Instantly, he searched for her face.

It was hopeless; she wasn't there.

- - - - -

"ASSHOLE!" Bailey yelled out the window to the car that cut her off on the highway.

Stepping a bit harder in the gas, she exceeded the speed limit by about 10 mph. The stress was getting to her. After running Ross' errand that was over an hour away in the next town, it was almost 10pm and she was still twenty minutes from the venue. She had been out all night picking up Ross' birthday present for Joe. He had ordered a big package that was shipped to the other town and he wanted her to pick it up for him, but it wasn't that simple. There were complications with the order, the workers at the place were packed with other people, plus they started to say that she wasn't allowed to obtain the package without the buyer's, which would be Ross', signature. It was a huge mess that caused a major delay. Now Bailey had missed Joe's birthday show.

I had felt like a bad dream; like the ones you have when you miss something important and the guilt is just piled onto our back? That's how Bailey felt as she sped into the parking lot, poorly parking the Cobalt as she rushed onto the JB tour bus, setting the package and Ross's note down on the 'kitchen' table, just like he had instructed her to. Hoping the plans hadn't changed, since she was without a cell phone, she glanced over at the clock to see it was 10:30. She knew for a fact that the boys were done the show and already at the meet and greet.

With only and hour and a half of Joe's birthday left, she began to panic. Knowing for a fact that the boys wouldn't return to the bus until a little after 11pm, she wrote Joe a little note and stuck it next to Ross' present. She also jotted down a second note with similar words and put it on his pillow, just incase he happened to miss the first one. With that, she quickly grabbed her duffle bag that was already packed with a few special items, then quickly made her way back to the car and sped off.