Are We Losing, or Beginning?

“I never thought I’d say thank god it’s Monday,” Mike said, collapsing onto the couch in our bus lounge. “I want to die.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re a big baby.”

“A big baby with a bad sunburn,” he whined.

“Who’s fault is that?” I teased, tossing him a bottle of Aloe to help soothe his burnt skin.

“Thanks,” he mumbled. “And it’s the sun’s fault.” I laughed and shook my head.

“Well, luckily for you, only a couple more Mondays left,” I said. We had an off day today and tomorrow, and two weeks left in the tour. It had been a long summer, for sure. At the same time, though, it went by fast. It was weird to think we were already wrapping up Warped Tour. It felt like just yesterday we were starting it.

“But I also don’t want it to be over,” he said with a sigh.

“I feel ya.” I laid down on the floor and sighed, too. I stared at the ceiling of the bus thoughtfully. We had accomplished a lot this summer. Really made a name for ourselves as a young band. And even though it was hot and disgusting a lot of the time, touring was what I loved most. I wanted to be on the road always. “A break will be nice but we’ll be on the road again soon,” I commented.

“Can’t wait. You gonna see Savannah when we get back?” he asked, his voice careful.

“I want to,” I said truthfully. We had talked a lot, basically all summer. I really liked her. I was afraid we wouldn’t have time for each other, her going to school and us touring, but seeing her wouldn’t be a bad thing. You never knew what could happen if you didn’t try it first.

“That’s good. How’s she doing?” he asked.

“She’s okay, I think,” I said. I got the impression that she wasn’t always completely honest about how she felt. I tried not to bug her too much about it, but ever since that time she called me when she was feeling sad, I couldn’t help but be a little worried. I was happy she called, though. Even though I was all over the place, I was glad she trusted me enough to talk to me about that.

“We should get Jaime to ask her mom where she works and surprise her there when we get back,” he suggested. I laughed, holding my hands over my stomach.

“Yeah! He’d love to do that, I’m sure. That’s a good idea, actually.” Other fun ideas, like asking her out, swirled in my head, making me grin like an idiot to myself.

“Uh oh, Vic’s got his puppy face on,” someone chimed. I looked up and saw Casey rolling through the lounge with a smirk on his lips and a bottle of Jack in his grasp.

“Shut up,” I muttered, sitting up.

“Ay, I think it’s cute. Young love.”

I rolled my eyes and stuck my hand out for his drink. He handed me the bottle and I took a nice gulp.

“Proves my point. Love sick puppy dog,” he snickered.

“Is it really that obvious?” I asked, taking another sip. I thought I had hid it pretty well this summer. They really didn’t tease me about it that often. Casey and Mike were the worst—they usually teamed up against me.

“This is mine, now,” I declared with a smirk, drinking more from the bottle. Casey pouted but merely shrugged his shoulders, signaling to Mike that it was time to go smoke.

Jaime wandered in, his face in a daze. “Oi, Casey, now tell me that’s a love sick puppy dog face if I’ve ever seen one,” I laughed.

“Yikes man, who hurt you?” Casey asked Jaime.

“No one,” he said, his mouth lifting into a smile. He sunk into the chair blissfully, like he was sitting on a cloud. Mike shrieked because Himes was actually sitting on his shins.

“What’s up, Himey?” I asked, sitting on the couch next to him once Mike had stumbled off. “Is it Jessica?”

He turned his head and looked at me with a smile. “Yeah, it’s Jess.”

“I’m assuming good things?” He nodded again and did that thing where his face scrunched up and he smiled uncontrollably and had to curl into himself a little. “Oh my god you nerd,” I laughed, offering him the Jack Daniels.

He put the bottle to his lips but he couldn’t even break his excited grin long enough to successfully drink. He handed it back to me. “I’m so happy, Vicky,” he grinned, jumping into me and nuzzling his head on my shoulder like a literal puppy. I laughed and patted his head while also taking another drink.

While I was happy for Jaime securing things with Jess again, I couldn’t help but feel a little jealous for the way he was feeling. I couldn’t wait for that to be me.

Notes

short chappy

Is anybody out there?