"I told you you'd love it," I smugly say while trying to hide my smirk behind my coffee mug.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Alex says, pointing his spoon at me from across the small table in the bus. "No one said anything about love. I don't think I can call it love yet, we just started. I do really like it though." He smiles, shoveling another spoonful of cereal into his mouth.

"Well, either way, you're totally going to fall in love. It's just a matter of time." I smile confidently, referring to us watching Friends. For the past couple of nights, we've been watching a few episodes after shows in the back lounge of the bus before bed.

"Someone's very confident. Maybe too confident," he jokes, playfully knocking his knee against mine under the small table.

"If you already really like it and we're not even into season two yet, you've got another thing coming buddy." I give him an expressive look.

He smiles and lightly shakes his head. "You know," he says after a few moments of silence. "My old assistant reminds me a lot of Estelle."

"What?" I laugh, picturing the older, scratchy voiced, scrunched up face, heavy makeup wearing, and cigarette smoking lady thats a casting agent for Joey.

"Yeah." He simply shrugs. "Except she was a bit bigger though. She was built more like a linebacker and wore a little less makeup."

"Oh my God." I laugh while throwing my head back, picturing this lady that I've never met before in my head. "Serious?"

"Dead serious." He smirks.

I just sit there amused, shaking my head.

"Alright, I'm up," Shay sleepily grumbles while flopping down on the couch, fully dressed and ready to go just like I asked. "Now what's your big surprise," she asks, less than thrilled.

"I'm glad you're ecstatic about my surprise for today," I sweetly say, voice dripping in sarcasm. I know Shay's not a morning person but I asked for her and Alex to be ready by noon today for my surprise.

Today is an off day on tour, meaning no show, interviews, or even meetings. Well, Chris will be in meetings and conference calls all day, but thats about it.

I took it upon myself to book something fun for us to do when the bus drops us off at the hotel. I've got cabin fever from being trapped in this bus, hotels, and arenas almost twenty-four-seven, so I thought it would be nice to get out and see the world for once.

"I booked us a car to drive around and see the rock formations and everything," I excitedly announce. "I thought it would be nice to get out for once and get some fresh air, and what better place than Utah!"

After the show last night, we hopped on the bus and drove straight to Utah for our off day. The next show is here tomorrow.

"Nice!" Alex smiles, hopefully as excited as I am.

"Ok, I guess I can manage that." Shay sits up and the bus seems to be coming to a stop at our hotel.

"Let's go!" I yell, scrambling to get out of the bus to go find the car.

At the front of the hotel, I can see the car I ordered parked out front and a man wearing a shirt with the car rental logo printed on the front.

"Miss Trett?" he asks as I approach him.

"That's me!" I smile and he hands me some paperwork to fill out before handing over the keys.

"Ready guys?" I excitedly ask while looking over my shoulder at Alex and Shay, playfully jingling the keys to show them that everything is finalized.

"I call shot gun!" Shay yells, running to get to the passenger seat.

"No!" Alex whines while running after her to try to get to the seat first.

They both get to the door at the same time and try to shove each other out of the way.

"I get the front seat!" Shay demands. "There is no way I'm awkwardly sitting in the back with your security guard!"

"I don't want to sit back there with him either!" Alex hisses when he sees Milo coming out of the bus to join us, out of earshot still.

One of the conditions to be able to do this trip is to have Milo come along for Alex's safety. Even after a huge protest, Alex lost to Chris in that battle. We're lucky Chris is even letting us—well, Alex—go in the first place, because that subject was a massive battle on its own.

To say that Alex was unhappy about the whole thing would be an understatement. I get it, though. I would hate to have to ask for permission to do any little thing and practically have a babysitter twenty-four-seven. But at least we were able to convince, more like annoy, Chris enough to say yes to going on this trip.

It's not that Milo isn't a nice guy necessarily, its just that he's very... uncomfortable to be around. He hardly ever speaks and he always has this hard, stern expression on his face. I don't think I've ever seen him crack a smile. Not once. It's just awkward to have him looming around all the time.

"Too bad!" Shay hisses back, giving Alex one hard shove that causes him to stumble back. She takes the opportunity to slip into the passenger seat and slams the door shut in Alex's face.

"I hate you," he mouths at her through the window, and if looks could kill she'd be dead by now. Pouting, he gets into the back seat and Milo slips in too on the driver's side.

Shay just laughs and sticks her tongue out at Alex.

Rolling my eyes at the children in the car, I get in the driver's seat and buckle up.

"Ok, let's go!" I say, roaring the car engine to life.

"Whoa," Alex, Shay and I all seem to say at the same time. The view is incredible. I feel like I'm driving in some virtual reality game where everything seems too perfect to be real.

Driving down the road, there are huge, stunning rock formations on both sides that seem to go on for miles. Some formations make me wonder if gravity is even a thing.

Pulling over into a small parking lot, I can see there's a hiking trail. "Hope you all have your walking shoes on," I joke. I already informed them to dress in comfy, yet active wear this morning.

Getting out of the car, I go to the trunk to grab the bag I packed containing water, a first aid kit, and sunscreen. Grabbing the sunscreen bottle I force everyone to put some on because the sun is out high in the sky today, and I don't want to hear anyone complaining about a sunburn later.

After putting on the sunscreen, we all head out on the trail to marvel at all of the beautiful scenery. The whole afternoon is spent hiking, running, and crawling through the breathtaking rocks.

On the way back to the car, we spot a lookout point where you can see the formations go on for miles. It's beyond beautiful with the sun going down, casting a bright orange glow over everything.

"Joslyn, take my picture!" Shay says, handing me her phone while she poses in front of the view.

After snapping a few photos of her she makes me hand her phone to Alex so I can get in the picture with her. Snapping a few normal pictures, she makes me jump on her back to take a few silly photos too.

"Here," Shay says while setting me down on the ground, walking towards Alex. "Go stand with Joslyn," she instructs, taking her phone from him.

He complies, walking over to stand next to me, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and mine instinctively goes around his waist. It isn't awkward or anything. Alex and I are used to taking pictures together before meet and greets because Sam always wants to do test shots before the real thing. What I didn't expect was to be swept off my feet. Literally.

After a few normal shots, Alex moves his arm down to securely wrap it around my waist while his other arm goes behind the back of my knees. Before I can even comprehend what's happening, I'm being lifted into the air by his strong arms, bridal style.

A surprised squeal passes my lips and I instinctively wrap my arms around his neck. I can feel his chest rumble with laughter at my startled reaction, and especially after I playfully stick my tongue out at him. All while this is going down I can hear Shay snapping tons of candid photos.

After a few more posed silly pictures, Alex gently puts me down and we're both still giggling.

"Alright, I want in on this!" Shay yells while running over to Milo, shoving her phone in his hand. "Here, take our picture," she demands and I'm surprised he actually follows her orders.

Running over to stand next to us, Shay has us all stand together, wrapping our arms around each other's backs, having a full on unofficial photoshoot.

When the sun is almost gone from the sky we make our way back to the car. There's one part of the trail where you have to climb up a small mound of rocks and Milo scales it with ease. Right behind him, Alex has no trouble climbing up either and he turns around to help Shay up. Once she's up on the trail with them, he bends down and extends his hand out me. Taking his hand, I lift my leg up on a tall rock to hoist myself up. When I go to push myself up, my shoe loses traction and I go sliding down the small mound.

"Joslyn!" Alex yells while tightening his grip on my hand, and he somehow manages to pull me up to set me down on the ground on top of the trail with them.

"Are you ok?" he frantically asks while kneeling down in front of me. His wide eyes rake up and down my body, looking for any serious injuries.

"Yeah, I'm ok. Just a couple of scraped knees." I lightly laugh, looking down to see a little blood coming from them.

"You have a first aid kit, right?" he asks while reaching for my backpack.

Shrugging the backpack off of my shoulders, he quickly finds the first aid kit, opening it and getting out some Neosporin and Band-Aids.

"Here, I can get it," I say, taking the Neosporin from his hands and applying it to my knees.

Alex quickly unwraps the Band-Aids and insists on putting them on.

"Do you think you can make it the rest of the way?" he asks, packing up the kit, his blue eyes flicking up to look at me through his lashes.

There's just over a quarter of a mile left to the car and I'm pretty sure I'm fine. All I did was scrape my knees a little. "Yeah, I'm good," I say, taking his outstretched hand to stand back up.

Standing up, I can't help the sharp little breath I take in. When I stand up pain shoots through my ankle. I must have sprained it when I lost my footing.

"Are you ok?" Alex asks, worry flashing through his eyes.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I lie, going to take a couple of steps and I can't help but limp, the pain from my ankle not letting me put my full weight on it.

"Joslyn, you're not fine." Alex sighs. "Here," he says, walking over to me and squatting down a little. "I'll carry you back to the car."

"What? Alex, I am not letting you carry me all the way back to the car," I stubbornly protest.

"Joslyn, you're obviously hurt. Just shut up and let me carry you back to the car," he says with exasperation, folding his arms over his chest.

"He's right, Joslyn. You don't need to possibly hurt yourself even more. Just let him carry you, it's not that far," Shay agrees, worry in her voice.

"Fine." I huff, swallowing my pride.

Alex shoots me a small, sad smile before leaning down a bit to let me jump on his back. I jump, wrapping my arms around his neck while his hook under my knees to support me.

"Thank you," he whispers once we start going back to the car, cranking his head a bit to look at me, referring to letting him carry me.

"I think I should be the one thanking you," I admit.

"Yeah, you probably should," he says smugly, a small, teasing smirk on his lips.

I softly smack him on his firm chest that rumbles with laughter shortly after.

We get back to the car in no time and Alex gently sets me down. "Do you think you should drive?"

"No. I'll drive," Milo's deep voice booms out and it startles all of us because he hardly ever talks.

"O-ok," I say, caught off guard. I place the keys in his large outstretched palm and he climbs in the driver's seat.

"Joslyn, you can sit in the back with me so you can prop your leg up," Alex says while climbing in the back, ushering me to do the same and helping me in the car.

"I can sit in the back with her!" Shay eagerly says, and I know she just doesn't want to sit in the front with Milo.

"That's ok. We got it." Alex devilishly smirks at her, knowing she doesn't want to sit in front because of Milo.

Shay glares at Alex, discretely flipping him off, before reluctantly climbing in the front seat with the unpleasant bodyguard.

On the ride back to the hotel, we go through a drive through to grab some dinner and Alex lets me rest my ankle in his lap during the drive to elevate it to reduce any possible swelling. Occasionally, he'll gently place his hand just above my ankle and soothingly swipe his thumb back and forth.

When we get back to the hotel we all go back to our rooms to take showers after running around all day in the hot sun.

After my shower I get into my pajamas and curl up in the hotel bed to channel surf, trying to find something decent to watch to wind down for the night.

A small knock raps on my door and I reluctantly get out of bed to limp over to answer it. Opening the door, I'm met with Alex standing outside, dressed in his pajamas and hair still damp from his shower.

"Hey, want to watch Friends?" he asks, smiling softly while shoving his hands in the pockets of his shorts.

"Sure." I smile, moving out of the doorway so he can come in.

"Shit, I'm sorry. I forgot about your ankle," he says after I hobble back to my bed, getting under the covers.

"It's ok. Although, do you mind handing me my laptop?" I ask, pointing to it sitting on top of the hotel desk.

"Sure." He grabs it and I pull back the covers of the queen size bed to let him slip in beside me.

I open my laptop and pull up the next episode. "Should we ask Shay if she wants to come over?" I ask.

"Sure," he says, making himself comfortable.

I quickly grab my phone to send her a text and within seconds I get a reply.

"She says she's wiped out from today, but we can watch without her," I inform Alex and quickly press play, setting the laptop between us before making myself comfortable.

About two episodes later I can hardly keep my eyes open. Looking over at Alex, his eyes are closed and he's breathing deep and even.

"Alex," I mumble, not having the energy to speak any louder. "Alex," I try again and he groans, only burying himself further into the pillows.

Deep down I know this is not the best idea, but I'm too tired to fight him and my sleep right now. Plus, he sort of looks really cute and peaceful with his face squished into the pillow, and I don't want to disturb him. Its been a long, tiring day.

Letting it go for now, I close my laptop and turn off the bedside lamp, falling asleep with Alex only a few feet away from me.