Like Real People Do

Silver Flashing Lights

The one with the screw up.

//

"Audra, sweetie, slow down!" I never thought I'd be yelling those words at a person whose legs were the same length as my forearms. But then again, two weeks ago, I never thought I'd be wandering around the backstage of a stadium somewhere in Massachusetts.

Still, thus far, my life as being the nanny to two celebrity children had been surprisingly uneventful. Which probably wasn't a bad thing.

Our days pretty much consisted of travelling and waiting. In the morning, I'd report to the back room of the tour bus, where Jaxon and the twins slept on an air mattress, to take which ever three year old was ready to the bathroom to begin the grooming process. By the time both of them were dressed, squeaky clean, and properly fed, the tour bus had arrived at the venue for that evening's concert. Then I'd play with them all morning while the band did interview after interview. Jaxon usually returned in time to feed them lunch and give them affection before he was gone again for soundcheck. The band had about two hours of downtime before the show actually started, during which they kept their energy up by dancing enthusiastically around the dressing room. The twins usually stayed awake long enough to watch their dad and uncles perform about three songs before they were ready to crash and were absolutely knocked out by the time the boys returned from the encore, practically tripping over themselves to volunteer to carry the three year olds back to the tour bus.

Now that they were used to me constantly being around, Finn and Audra had returned to being the children that they apparently actually were, which basically consisted of exhibiting high levels of energy during every waking hour. Finn was actually relatively easy to handle, I thought, glancing back to where he was contently glued to his Uncle Benji's side, playing with the guitarist's recently fuchsia hair, because as long as he was receiving some sort of affection, he was perfectly happy.

It was Audra who I had to keep an eye on twenty four seven. Despite being small, she was quick as a whip and could run out of my line of vision before I realized what was happening. Which was why I was grateful for times like now, when Trey sprinted forward and picked her up from behind to place her on his shoulders, sending her into a fit of giggles as she automatically tangled her tiny fingers into his hair for support.

"Hey, Audra," he sang out, winking in my direction as he walked back towards us. "Wanna see where we're playing tonight?"

Currently, we were wandering around the back stage area of that night's venue, attempting to locate the dressing room, but apparently Trey had decided now was a good time for a detour, so we all followed as he made his way down the hallway which led to the stage, pushing open the back doors to step out onto the area where the band would be performing that evening, still being set up by the crew.

It was pretty cool, I had to admit, watching how an empty stadium was prepped for a rock show and soon enough filled out with thousands of screaming fans. Tonight's concert would be the sixth show I would watch on the television stream in the dressing room and I could honestly say I was excited. Despite the fact that I'd already seen it five times, the band managed to keep it fresh from city to city, most likely because their friendship was so genuinely that it was hard not to become invested.

In fact, there were times when I wondered if maybe Jaxon's assertion that his kids didn't need a nanny was accurate. The other members of the band were so invested in the lives of their niece and nephew that the twins never wanted for attention or affection when they were around.

But I supposed that was the tricky part; them being around. Because at the end of the day, they had jobs to do. Jobs that included about a dozen interviews a day followed by hours of rehearsal and topped off with high energy performances. So I could tell they were grateful when they returned to the dressing room after a show to find that the twins were sound asleep because I'd made sure to wear them out, no matter how much Jaxon refused to admit it.