A couple of weeks later.
Today was the day.
The day of departure.
The day that was going to be permanently carved into my mind.
The day we left for the Boys Of Zummer Tour.
Was I nervous? Of course. I was going to be opening for Fall Out Boy, not to mention I would be performing alongside them in front of thousands of screaming fans. It honestly could be worse, though. Pete told me that the original plan was to have Wiz Khalifa tour alongside them, but he decided the fans wouldn't go for that. Then I came along, and he had a change of mind.
"Need help?" Patrick asked as I hauled my suitcase and guitars towards the ginormous white tour bus, where I would be traveling cross-country for two and a half months.
"Uh, I think I got it," I assured him, limping towards the door. I managed to get everything inside with no issues, but I checked to see if my new guitar was intact just in case I had accidentally damaged it.
As I stepped in, I heard a faint grunt behind me.
"Damn."
I turned around, jumping back to let the two security guards onto the bus. The first one was a tall man with a thick beard, while the other one somehow disturbed me.
The way he smiled, like he knew something about me.
Or maybe the fact that I swear he was checking me out.
He was definitely creepy.
"And what would your name be, girl?" he said, a toothy grin tugging at his lips.
"Melanie," I said without emotion as I stared off into space to avoid meeting his venomous eye contact.
"What a pretty name," he said, creeping closer. "....for a pretty girl."
I felt the hairs on the back of my neck become erect.
"Uh, I-"
Thank god Patrick came to the rescue. He frowned at the ominous security guard. "Mel, did you get your stuff in your room?"
"Uh..." I saw Patrick exchange skeptical glances with the guard.
"You bothering my girlfriend?" Patrick said, narrowing his eyes.
The guard chuckled. "Just making a conversation."
"Yeah, well, make conversation with someone else." He shook his head and kept his eyes fixed on the guard until he left.
"I don't like that guy," I whispered, entwining my fingers with Patrick's, giving his hand a gentle squeeze.
"Me neither. But anyway, you need help with your stuff?" He glanced over at my bags that sat by the window.
"Um, sure."
Patrick showed me to my bedroom quarters towards the back, and it was easy to say that the bus was far larger on the inside than it looked from the outside. I got settled in, took some time to look around, and then I was called up towards the central part of bus to talk about our first destination.
The tour manager motioned us all to have our seats and displayed the digital map on his iPad.
"Alright, everybody. I know you're all real eager to get started, so let's start looking at our first couple of destinations. From here, we'll head to San Francisco, then hit Los Angeles back here on our way out of California. From there we will head on over to Denver, Colorado. Any questions? Melanie?"
I shook my head and tried to keep a geeky smile from stretching across my face. "Nope. Sounds good."
"Alrighty. Go ahead and get settled in, eat some breakfast if you haven't already, and just take it easy. We'll be arriving in about 5 hours."
The manager disappeared near the front of the bus to give the chauffeur the schedule and the bus began gradually moving shortly after, the tires squeaking against the pavement as it reached a steady speed. Soon enough, we were cruising down the road.
"You guys wanna watch a movie?" Pete asked, pointing at the TV on the wall to the left.
For once, we all came to one agreement, and settled on the Star Wars trilogy. We all distributed ourselves among the couches. Joe, Andy, and Pete on the larger couch, while Patrick and I shared the loveseat of two cushions.
"Do we have anything to eat?" I asked as I snuggled up against Patrick, unable to ignore the deep rumbling moan in my stomach.
"There's some cereal in the cabinet," said Andy, jabbing his thumb in the direction of the small kitchen.
I peeled off the blanket Patrick and I had been sharing and poured myself a bowl of Frosted Flakes, being quite generous with the amount.
"I want some!" Pete whined, grabbing for the box like a child.
"Alright, alright," I chuckled, tossing the box of cereal into his arms and I worked on my bowl at the table.
Out of the corner of my eye, I lost focus on what I was doing, as I came across Patrick's mesmerizing glance in my direction.
God, he was cute.
He never ceased to make me smile.
Not with that adorable half smile.
He always looked at me that way. I wasn't completely sure why.
I smiled at him. "Come here. Sit with me."
His eyes lit up like a child on Christmas morning as he scrambled towards the table and made himself comfortable next to me.
"You look beautiful this morning," he whispered as his arm snaked around my waist.
"Really?" I thought I looked like a ratty mess.
I hadn't washed my hair for a couple of days, so it was a tangled mess, and my face was pale and bare because I hadn't had any time to put on makeup.
"Yeah, really."
I chewed on my lip. "I had no time to shower or put on makeup," I said, combing back my hair with my fingers.
"I don't care. You look just as amazing without it, maybe even more so."
"Oh, well, thanks..." I smiled down at the floor. "You sappy little shit," I giggled, leaning into him.
"Guilty as charged," he laughed, wrapping both his arms around me. "Just being honest." He kissed the top of my head and rested his chin where his lips had previously been.
"Hey, are you lovebirds gonna watch the movie or not?" Joe asked, peering over at us discretely from the couch.
"Uh, yeah." I cleared my bowl and returned to my spot. Patrick draped the blanket over us and enveloped me in his embrace, allowing me utmost comfort.
I may have fallen asleep some time or another during our long sitting, but that had to be because of how comfortable I was.
Or maybe it was because I was exhausted from God knows what. Either way, I felt refreshed when I woke up. The movie had long ended.
Patrick and I were the only ones left in the room. He had dozed off as well. I smiled and removed his glasses, setting them down on the kitchen table.
Letting out a sound somewhere along the lines of a yawn, I rested my head on his chest and snuggled up next to him, eventually dozing off as well.
-
I'm starting to like where this story is going.
Thanks for the positive comments everyone.
You all make me smile even when it's hard.
- Liesl :3
