Blogger | Josh Dun

Part 37

The tour bus had come to pick us up from Josh's house after a short break. After touring with the band and crew for such a long time, I'd started to miss my bunk and sharing space with so many people. As someone who had always valued my personal space and quiet, it was strange to me how much had changed.

A smile crept onto my face as I thought about it, which didn't go unnoticed.

"What have you got that cute grin on for?" Jenna nudged me as we settled onto the sofa in the lounge area of the bus.

Josh and Tyler were already bickering over who was going to play as Mario and who Luigi, and Jenna chuckled fondly at the boys as they started kicking each other out of the band.

"It's just crazy how much has changed for me, y'know? If I hadn't gotten this work experience, I'd have started back at uni by now, and I'd be miserable as sin again.

"I wouldn't have met Josh, or you and Ty, or any of the crew, and I wouldn't be so... happy. Do you know how long I've been hoping to feel happy again for? Like, properly, genuinely happy?"

Jenna squeezed my arm and pulled me into a side hug.

"You've made us happy too, Liz. I don't know how we ever lived without you."

...

Josh was acting weird. Really weird. Ever since we'd gotten back onto the road he'd been distant and secretive. He wasn't being rude, just closed off. I'd attempted to talk to him about it more than once, but he'd quickly tell me nothing was wrong and then try to avoid me. I'd even spoken to Tyler and Jenna, as well as members of the crew, but they all insisted that Josh was acting normally to them.

I was sure he was hiding something, but didn't know what. My first instinct was that he was cheating on me, but I found tried to believe that we were never out of the tour bus for long enough. He was, however, constantly on his phone; making secret phone calls and making sure I couldn't see the screen when he was typing away.

At one point, I did see what looked like the name 'Tiffany' pop up in his emails, so maybe my cheating suspicions were correct.

Sick of the deceit, as soon as the bus pulled up at the next venue, I ran out of the vehicle and into the building. Finding the first set of loos I could, I locked myself into a stall before bursting into tears.

I had been right from the start. You should never meet your idols. They'd break your heart.

...

Half an hour passed, and I eventually wiped the tears away, splashed cold water on my face to make myself look semi-presentable, and took a few deep breaths before leaving the room.

Jenna saw me from the end of the corridor, and rushed forward to meet me, looking breathless.

"Where have you been?! I've been looking everywhere for you! We were about to call a search party!"

I shrugged.

"Sorry, I went exploring and then went to the toilet. I didn't mean to worry you. Are the boys at soundcheck?"

A strange look crossed Jenna's face, but almost as quickly as it appeared, it was gone.

"Ty is, Josh has popped out for a bit before the show. He's gone with Michael. I think he wanted to grab some junk food or something."

She tugged on my arm.

"Come on, let me paint your nails or something. I'm bored."

...

Josh had been gone for hours. Too long for him to just be 'grabbing junk food'.

By this point, I was seething. As if he had the nerve to be living on a tiny bus with his girlfriend and then spending time between shows with this 'Tiffany' girl. Was she the only one? Was he seeing a different girl in each city? Each night? How long had this been going on for?

I was broken. I'd always thought I could trust him, but now I was questioning everything I thought I knew. And if the others were all feigning ignorance, did that mean that I couldn't trust them either?

Before I could work myself up into more of a state, Josh walked into the room I was currently occupying.

"Hey Lizzie, has soundcheck started?"

He came over to wrap his arms around me, but I quickly stood up so I could avoid him. If he hugged me, I'd break down and I wasn't ready for that. I needed to be strong.

"Soundcheck started ages ago. We'd better get going if you want some practice before tonight."

Josh's face fell, but he swiftly recovered.

"Okay? Let's get going then." He laughed. "Want a piggyback?"

I shook my head.

"No thanks, I can walk just fine."

I rushed off towards the auditorium, a confused Josh trailing behind me.

—-
Author's Note

Howdy hello hi guys!

All I have to say is;

WOW!

50,000 reads and 1,000 votes? That is CRAZY!

Thank you all so much for enjoying my story. I'm trying really hard to make more time to continue this book and I'm finally nearing the end!
Every single one of you who has read, voted or commented means the absolute world to me and I hope you all realise that.

Lots and lots and lots of love xxx