Just Off the Key of Reason

Chapter Six - I Could Walk This Fine Line

Saturday, 17th of March, 2007 – Orlando, Florida

They hadn't been able to find anywhere to sleep after their show in Florida, nobody had any friends this far down South and most motels nearby had been booked out, which meant an uncomfortable night on the bus was in order. After three nights in a private room and a hotel bed, it was a tolerable change but certainly not desired. The bus only comfortably fit them sitting down; sleeping on it required two people to sit in the driver and passenger seats up the front and then the other three people to share the remaining two benches in the back. The boys were fairly used to being forced to huddle up together from their early days of sleeping in cars to get to and from venues on time, so they had said that they would always leave the back bench totally free for their new companion who might not be as comfortable with being spooned in the middle of the night. Patrick had found himself unable to sleep, and surprisingly not because of the snoring of the man next to him who had an arm draped across his mid-section. He stared up at the roof of the bus, trying to work out what his next step was to not fall deeper into this pit of one-sided despair. Avoiding the issue hadn't worked, distracting himself from his feelings was a no-go due to his own moral dilemmas, what else could he do? Maybe Andy wasn't too far off the mark. How hard could it be to fake his own death? As his eyes slowly focused on the darkened surroundings, he could see a soft blue light slowly fading in and out against the roof of the bus. He sat up slightly, glancing behind him to see that he was not the only one still awake.

"Hey." She mumbled quietly, looking up at him from her phone.

"Hi. Can't sleep?" He whispered. She shook her head in response. He turned around to look in front of him at the sleeping car, figuring he had nothing better to do than clamber over into the back. Patrick was not the most graceful of people, particularly in a cramped vehicle while he was trying to free himself from the vice-like grip of a bassist who hadn't had any affection in a while. But he managed to get over into the back seat without causing too much noise.

He paused for a moment before speaking; making sure that everyone was still asleep. The sounds of Pete's uninterrupted snoring gave him the impression that he had done a half decent job at being stealthy. "What's the time?" He asked finally.

"About four in the morning." She answered, sitting up slightly and moving to have her back pressed into the side of the bus so that she could face him properly. Her eyes looked past him and out into the darkness beyond the window. It looked almost like the light blue hues of sunrise were starting to seep into the skyline, but she knew it was probably just the lights from the city. "Why are you still up?" She sighed, rubbing her eyes tiredly. He shrugged, not overly wanting to answer the question in case his lie was caught out. Eventually after a minute or so of silence that implied he should elaborate on that, he made up something that sounded half plausible.

"Just nervous about the shows I guess. You?" He asked back, wanting to quickly get away from his own answer. She studied him for a moment, and he worried she was trying to work out the authenticity of his answer, but she was warring about whether or not to truthfully give her own.

"My brain isn't liking me right now." Was the answer she settled on. He frowned at her in the dimly lit backseat.

"What's wrong? Do you wanna talk about it?" He asked in concern.

"Not really." She smiled at him. He held her gaze for a while, wanting to press her on the topic in the hopes of being able to help, but deciding to drop it.

They hadn't had much of a chance to talk since the night at the club. Even on days off the band was escorted from interview, to photoshoot, to radio appearance, to anything in between that the label wanted them to do. Their time in Georgia had been non-stop until they had to leave for their show in Florida. Even after the show, the guys had only wanted to sleep so that they could make it to North Carolina early enough to find a bed at a motel near the venue and not deal with sleeping on the bus for another night. "How was your night at the club in the end?" She asked quietly, breaking the silence around them.