Blogger | Josh Dun

Part 14

The bus pulled up outside my house the next day, and my mum was waiting outside for me. 

As much as I loved touring, I'd missed her so much. As soon as the bus stopped, I ran into her waiting arms. 

The band and crew all gathered behind me, and greeted my mother when I let go. 

They all shook her hand politely, and accepted her offer to come inside for a drink.

I took in my home, and it was just like it had been when I left. Old wooden furniture, comfy couches, shoes strewn by the front door, cream carpets. The only strange thing was that there was a suitcase by the door.

"Mum?" I called, accidentally interrupting her from her conversation with Tyler and Jenna. 

"Where are you going?" I gestured towards the suitcase. 

Instead of her answering, Mark did. 

"We've all talked it through, and we would love it if you would join us as part of our full time crew."

"Are you serious? What about my final year of University?"

"Liz," my mum's tone was soft, trying to calm me down. "You always said that you only wanted to go to uni to improve your chances of finding a career. If you've already got one, why continue with your course?"

She was right. 

I looked around.

"And this is definitely okay with all of you?"

Tyler spoke up first.

"Liz, you're great at your job. You'd be an asset."

Jenna agreed. "Plus we all love your company, and I really could do with another girl on tour."

I looked over at Josh, who just grinned at me. 

"Mum? Will you be okay on your own?"

"Darling," she ambled over, and held my face in her hands. "You're twenty-four, and need to live your life. You looked after me so brilliantly when your dad died, and I could never thank you enough for it. I'll be fine. Go and live your dream." 

Tears welled up in my eyes and started dribbling onto my cheeks without warning. I hugged my mum tightly, hardly believing that this wasn't a dream. 

"I love you so much."

"I love you too." She pulled away to look me in the eye. "I'm so proud of you."

...

After promising to call her as often as I could, I re-entered the tour bus, a place I thought I'd never see again. 

I turned towards the group standing behind me, and put my hands on my hips. 

"You sneaky lot. How long had you known you were going to employ me full time?"

Mark scratched the back of his neck. 

"After we read your first blog post, we knew you had it in you. We came to a definite decision about a month ago." 

I gasped at the new information, and then launched myself at them all, tackling them into a group hug.

"Thank you all so much." 

"It's not a problem. You deserve this, Liz." Tyler told me kindly. 

I let go. 

"Where to next then?" I grinned. 

"The airport, we're leaving for America at two in the morning. But first, food."

...

We'd grabbed a quick KFC and made it to the airport with all of our luggage and equipment. I was sad that we were leaving the tour bus behind, but Michael assured me that the tour bus in America would be much bigger, and much nicer. 

We rushed through the airport, and took our seats in first class. I had the window seat, with Josh beside me. 

As he looked down at his phone, I snapped a quick photo. He heard the shutter and looked up, and laughed when he realised I was taking photos. I took a few more and smiled as I looked back through the gallery. 

Josh peered over my shoulder at the camera, and the looked up at my face. 

"I'm so glad you're staying with us, Lizzie."

"Me too." 

The captain came over the intercom to inform the passengers that we were about to take off, and when the plane started to move, Josh passed me a earphone. Polarize played, and I laughed.

"Mr Dun, you have excellent music taste."

"Well, my taste in music is your face."

I burst into laughter and slapped his arm.

"That was awful! Can I switch places with Michael?" 

He chuckled too. "Nope, you're stuck with me, for the whole flight."

I groaned in fake annoyance. 

"Damn it. Hopefully you'll sleep for the entire flight so I can get some peace."

Josh mock gasped. 

"How rude! Just for that, I'm going to stay awake the whole time."

He tried to, but half an hour later, he fell asleep on my shoulder. 

Jenna looked over and smiled, and pointed so that Tyler could see too. They both 'aww'ed, so I stuck my tongue out at them. 

After a while, I started to get uncomfortable, so I tried to shift without waking Josh up. It didn't work, and Josh's eyelids fluttered open. He yawned adorably and stretched, and then looked at me.

"You trying to get comfortable?"

I nodded, so he sat up and leant his chair back, before pulling me down so that my head rested on his hard chest, and his arm was around my waist. 

Before I knew it, his warmth was making me drowsy, and I fell asleep to the sound of his heartbeat.

...

The sound of the intercom announcing that we'd be landing soon woke me up. 

I was still lying on Josh, although his grip seemed to have gotten tighter throughout the flight. 

I was in shock. I had just slept for nine hours straight, for the first time in years. 

I sat up, noticing Josh was already awake. 

"How long have you been up?" I asked, rubbing my eyes. 

"A little bit longer than you. You actually slept."

"I did. Better than I remember ever sleeping before." 

Josh was about to speak but Jenna leaned across the aisle to talk to us. 

"You guys are adorable." She winked at me and then sat back, holding Tyler's hand.

And so I entered America feeling more energised than I ever had before.