Lucky quickly forgot about running for the bus once her eyes met Jude's as she slid into the seat next to Jordan. She grinned as she thought about peeking down the aisle at him but didn't want to embarrass herself in case he was looking. As Jordan made herself comfortable, she pulled out her camera and showed Lucky some shots she took of last night's show.

"You gonna tell me about you and Dylan or do I need to drag it out of you?" Lucky said.

"We made up, not much more to say," Jordan said then looked away.

"You're blushing! Mark this day folks, Jordan Blake actually blushes."

"Shut up!" Jordan hissed.

"I want details. I deserve to know. I spoke to him after I left you, you know."

"Yes, I know. He said he was just trying to make me jealous because I hurt him. He thought I didn't care about him. I guess what Jude said is true, things aren't always the way they appear."

"Wait, when did you talk to Jude?" Lucky asked.

"Last night, after the show while you were changing."

"What did he say? I mean how did that happen?"

"He wanted to talk to me about Dylan, that's all. I guess he felt bad for me," Jordan said with a shrug. "I must’ve looked pathetic."

"I can't believe he spoke to you," Lucky said, her brow wrinkling.

She wanted to say more and tell Jordan about what happened with Jude, but she wasn't sure what to say. She had so many questions about last night. Why was he alone? Why didn't he kiss her? But she couldn't ask. It was time for her to grow up and stop obsessing over childish questions.

Dylan had been at the back of the bus for a while with Jude. She wanted to get a glimpse of Jude, see his tattoos peeking out of his shirt, his choppy hair perfect in an unobvious way. As she tried to think of a way to get a peek, she realized she couldn't without risking being caught, but why should she care? Tired of acting so stupid around him all the time, she summoned her courage and went to the back of the bus hoping no one else could hear the loud thumping of her heart.

"Hey, there's my lucky girl," Ross said.

Forgetting that Ross and Mark were on the bus, Lucky ignored the comment, not thinking it was for her. Suddenly his hand closed around her arm, stopping her and forcing her to look at him.

"Oh Ross, I'm sorry, hi. I need to--" Lucky stammered, feeling uncomfortable.

"Jeez, now that you have me all to yourself, you're ignoring me?" Ross said.

Did I ever pay much attention to you to begin with? she thought. Unsure how to answer, she laughed and hoped he would let her go. Looking towards the back of the bus, she thought Jude looked angry.

"No, I just need to talk to Jude," she said as she tried to pull her arm away.

"You're not telling me something," Ross said. "I came all this way for you, followed you on your tour. You're into him, aren't you?"

"He's in my band and we need to talk about the set list. You wanted to come on the bus, I never invited you," she said. Her anger grew and bubbled over the longer he held onto her arm. "Now let go of me before I tell Stan you shouldn't be here."

"Everything okay, Lucky?" Stan asked with a serious look in his eye as he peered through the rearview mirror at them.

She yanked her arm away from Ross. "Everything's fine Stan, thank you," she said.

Breathing a sigh of relief, her anger quickly left her and she felt calm and at ease for the first time. Her shoulders felt lighter and she pushed them back, feeling proud of standing up for herself as she walked the rest of the way up the aisle.

"Hey Olivia, glad you came back here. I wanted to talk to you," Jude said.

She still couldn't believe he was calling her Olivia. Even Jordan didn't call her that, and she knew she didn't care for Lucky. Olivia felt like a foreign name to her since no one used it, but she loved hearing his deep, husky voice when he said it. He made her name feel like something that only her and Jude shared.

"Since you're back here, I'm going to sit with my girl," Dylan said as he stood up. "See you guys later."

"You wanted to talk to me?" Lucky said as she watched Dylan slide into the seat next to Jordan.

"Yeah, about those guys," Jude said, nodding towards Ross and his friend. "Take a seat."

"You saw that?" she asked, feeling embarrassed.

"I wanted to talk to you about them before something like that happened. They shouldn't be on the bus."

"And I'm sure you never brought groupies along on your tour bus."

"It's different."

"How? Because I'm a girl? Are you saying that because I'm a girl I shouldn't have any fun? Maybe I should just stay at home and wait for Prince Charming while knitting a sweater."

Lucky couldn't help but think about how her parents sheltered her. She knew things would have been different if she was a boy, and it made her more sensitive.

"No, that's not what I meant," Jude said.

"Then what?"

"They're just bad news, okay? I've seen guys like that. They're parasites."

"Well, they're my friends."

"Didn't look like that," he said.

"Well…I..."

She didn't know what to say, but she didn't like that he was trying to control what she did. In her mind, if she was a guy, Jude would've patted her on the back or given her a high five, not scolded her.

"Just be careful, Liv."

He got up and disappeared through the back door into the bedroom. She almost followed him in, ready to argue some more, but she didn't know what she was fighting about. Having Ross and Mark on the bus was the last thing she wanted. Lucky had to get them off the bus. How Ross treated her before was reason enough, she just didn't know how to do it.

* * *

The sun was setting as the bus turned towards their hotel in Dallas. Surprised to see a bellhop standing outside in uniform, she wondered if they were at the right place.

"Stan, is this right?" Lucky whispered over Stan's shoulder as the bus hissed to a stop.

"That's right. We get to sleep first class tonight. The label arranges for the best hotel in the city when a tour member comes home."

"Home?" She turned around and looked down the rows of seats as she tried to see if anyone looked more excited than usual. "Who's from Dallas?"

"Me, and I'm happy to be back. I think depending on the route, I might be from Chicago next time. Really nice hotels there." Stan winked at her as he opened the bus door.

Entering the hotel through the powered revolving door, Lucky couldn't believe how large and glamorous it was. She never traveled much before since her parents didn't have a lot of money, so she wasn't used to seeing this kind of elegance.

The lobby was several stories high with glistening white marble floors, tall columns, and huge crystal chandeliers. In one corner, a black baby grand piano sat in the middle of a lounge with several thickly upholstered chairs.

As Ross and Mark entered the hotel, Mark let out a low whistle. Kat bumped into Lucky as she came through the revolving door.

"Oops, sorry Lucky, you're supposed to keep walking after you exit the doors," Kat said sarcastically.

Lucky looked at her in surprise. She couldn't believe Kat would talk to her that way. Before she could say anything back, Kat had caught up to Ross and Mark as they headed to the bar.

"Fine, they're on the bus, but they're not staying here, are they?" Jordan asked, looping her arm through Lucky's to move her out of the way.

"No, no way. I really don't know what they're doing here, but I didn't think about that when I let them come on the bus. The label isn't paying for them, and I sure as hell won't let them in our room."

"Umm…about our room," Jordan said as she looked away. "Well, this is only if you're okay with it, but I was thinking of spending the night with Dylan. It's just…geez Lucky, look at this place. We'd never be able to afford anything like this on our own and well..."

"You don't have to tell me, I get it," Lucky said with a smile.

Hearing the sound of Jude's boots thudding on the marble floor echo throughout the lobby, she turned to watch him walk by. The muscles on his one arm bulged as he carried his duffel bag past them. Just like every time she saw him, her heart skipped a beat.

"Since you guys have the night off, Dylan and I are going to have a real date. You have no idea how excited I am."

"I forgot how easy you were, putting out on the first date," she teased.

"You're just jealous, you big virgin," Jordan said, laughing.

She was jealous. Not because Jordan had done it before or that she and Dylan would be together tonight. Lucky was jealous of that duffel bag Jude carried, of that notebook he wrote in, anything he touched. She knew it was stupid, but she wouldn't have minded being an inanimate object for once if it meant she could spend more time with him.

Opening the door to the hotel room, Lucky dropped her bags by the door. The suite was huge. Easily the size of a small apartment and much larger than any hotel room they had stayed in so far.

She and Jordan began turning on lights as they walked through. The main living space had a large flat screen TV, stereo surround sound, and a large, comfortable looking couch. When Lucky sat on a burgundy chair in the corner of the room by the window, she was surprised to find that it reclined.

Each of the bedrooms had a huge king-sized bed with a dark blue comforter and white sheets. The bed looked fluffy and comfortable and Lucky knew she'd get the good night's rest she so desperately needed.

"I can't wait to see the bathroom," Jordan said excitedly as she ran into the bathroom that separated the bedrooms. "Ooh Lucky, get in here!"

Lucky entered the largest bathroom she had ever seen. Bone-colored ceramic tile covered the floor. Garnet-colored granite topped the two sink areas with long mirrors that covered the wall above them. In the corner of the room was a deep triangular whirlpool tub.

"Guess what I'm doing tonight," Lucky said.

"Hmm…I wonder if Dylan has one in his room."

As Jordan started going through her clothing, Lucky left the room planning to explore. She wanted to look around more and figured she could stop in the restaurant to bring food to her room later instead of waiting for room service.

The restaurant was a traditional steakhouse, dark wood walls with white linen tablecloths. Lucky couldn’t remember the last time she had a steak. It wasn’t a normal thing in her house to go out for steak, or really to go out much at all.

While the hostess, dressed in black slacks, a pleated white button-down shirt, and a black vest seated a couple, Lucky glanced over at the bar where Kat, Ross, and Mark were doing shots. She heard Kat hoot then heard their laughter. She never understood the fascination with drinking and now that she had her first drink and felt its effects, she didn’t care for it. Lucky preferred being in control. She could embarrass herself easily enough without alcohol.

As the hostess headed back, Lucky wondered if her sour expression was caused by her brown hair being pulled back too tight by her ponytail. She didn’t look pleased to be working, but suddenly her scowl shifted into the biggest smile and her eyes opened wide.

"Oh my goodness, it's you! Table for two?" the hostess asked.

Confused, Lucky turned around and saw Jude behind her wearing a dark red button-down shirt, the first couple of buttons open at the top, giving her a view of his silver chain. Sticking out of the bottom of his dark blue jeans were a different pair of black boots that looked less worn. Lucky wished she had changed clothes too as she suddenly realized she smelled like stale bus air.

"Hi. I'm surprised to see you," Lucky said.

"I just got here. Care to join me?"

"I was just going to bring some food back to the room. I didn't even change."

"You look beautiful. Like always. Join me, I hate eating alone."

She couldn't say no. She didn't want to. Jude took her hand and held it between his, engulfing it between his large hands as they followed the hostess to a curved corner booth.

A waiter, a short man with slicked-back black hair, came over with a clear unopened bottle with a blue and white label and asked what kind of water they'd like. Lucky looked at Jude. As far as she knew, there was one kind of water--wet.

"We'll just have tap," Jude told the waiter before turning to her. "Is that okay?"

"There are other waters?" she whispered.

"They offer a few different types," he said as he shrugged. "Frankly, I prefer tap."

The waiter returned with a carafe of ice water and poured it into two long stemmed glasses. Lucky looked around, glad to see the restaurant was fairly empty. She felt uncomfortable enough as it was, she didn't need a lot of people watching and she knew that all eyes were always on Jude.

Having dinner with Jude wasn't what made her uncomfortable. She couldn't take her eyes off him, so she understood why others wouldn't be able to either. What really made her uncomfortable was the number of forks on the table. She had never eaten at such a fancy restaurant before and didn't want to look stupid. Especially not in front of Jude.

Returning again, the waiter set down a silver basket with a linen-wrapped loaf of bread and two small bowls, each filled with a rounded scoop of butter.

"This is our famous house-made rosemary bread," the waiter said. "You have your choice of our sun-dried tomato butter or the champagne brie. I think you'll enjoy both."

As soon as he left, Jude unwrapped the bread and offered Lucky a piece.

"You have to try those, they're amazing," he said.

"You've eaten here before?"

"Yup, we stay here every time we play in Dallas. It's Stan's hometown."

"No, it's not," she said, laughing.

"You never know. All I know is that's one bad-ass old man. Always has been."

Wanting to taste the champagne brie first, she spread the smooth white cream onto the bread. It was light, slightly sweet and mild tasting but amazing. Next she grabbed another piece of bread and smoothed on a dollop of the red-flecked butter.

The sun-dried tomato butter had a more savory and heavier flavor than the champagne brie but was equally as tasty. The warm rosemary bread complemented them both with its delicate herb flavor. Lucky would've been happy just filling up on the bread.

As the night went on, they could hear Kat with Ross and Mark getting louder at the bar. Some of the restaurant patrons shot them dirty looks and Kat responded by giving them the finger.

"I've seen how this turns out. What do you say we ask them to pack our food and eat in my room?" Jude asked.

"Sounds good. I'm embarrassed for them already, I don't need it to get worse."

Once they were in Jude's room, which was just as lavish as Lucky's, he unpacked their dinner of steaks, roasted asparagus, and a special baked dish of thinly sliced potatoes layered in a jalapeño cheese sauce on the coffee table.

"Hey, they must've made a mistake, there's a bottle of wine in here. Want some?"

"Okay, I'll try it," Lucky said as she sat on the floor next to Jude as he poured the wine into hotel glasses.

Lucky thought it was the best meal she ever ate, but she knew the company had a lot to do with it. She probably would've been just as happy eating at McDonald's with him. As they finished their meal, Jude turned on the TV and found an old movie.

Sitting on the couch, Jude turned to her. The gold in his green eyes sparkled, but she wasn't sure if that was just the wine. His expression was playful and serious at the same time and the slightest smile played on his lips.

"You're too far, come closer," he said, patting the cushion beside him.

She sat next to him and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. When she leaned into him, making herself more comfortable, his arm slid so it pressed against her back and his hand rested on her hip. She thought she was in heaven. Curling up with Jude on the couch in front of the TV was easily the most romantic thing that had ever happened to Lucky.

The movie was boring and between that, the long bus ride, the heavy meal, and the wine, she felt her eyelids get heavy. She hated missing what happened at the end of the movies though, no matter how dull they were.

As she struggled to stay awake, her head slowly slipped down from his chest to his lap. He moved her hair back from her face and slowly stroked her cheek until she fell asleep.

Opening her eyes, Lucky noticed the purple-blue sky through the open drapes and wondered how long she had been asleep. The TV was still on and she could hear Jude breathing steadily. Lucky lifted her head from Jude's lap and looked up at him, his head resting on the back of the couch, his eyes closed, his arm still holding her.

Rubbing her eyes, she felt out of sorts. It took her a few minutes to remember what city they were in. Taking in the opulence of the room, she remembered Stan saying he was from Dallas.

She knew there was no rush. Their show that night was hours away, and it wasn't even morning. Stan wanted to hit the road immediately after because Phoenix was such a long haul. Looking back up at Jude, she wondered why he slept like that instead of waking her up.

He groaned and moved his head side to side and began massaging his neck. Feeling even worse since he was in pain, she stood up and grabbed the hand that was still on her hip.

"Come on, you'll feel better with some sleep," she whispered, not sure he was really awake.

As he followed her into the bedroom, he yawned, then collapsed on the bed fully dressed. She drew the curtains and got into bed with him and as she closed her eyes, she felt him move closer to her and fit his body alongside hers. Certain he didn't know who she was, she didn't say anything.

"Good night, Olivia," he whispered in her ear before falling back asleep.

She lay there listening to her speeding heartbeat, with his warm body next to hers, believing her life couldn't get any better.