4:43AM.

The obnoxious glowing numbers of the clock Taylah had mounted in her bunk glared tauntingly at her. She hated the fact that she couldn’t sleep, despite how much she wanted it, craved it. They hadn’t gotten back to the buses until 2, barely in time for bus call. And as soon as they did, everyone dropped off seemingly simultaneously, leaving her the only one -begrudgingly - awake.
With a sigh, she sat up and pulled her hair into a messy bun, sliding her glasses off of the little shelf and pulling them on. She stayed like that for a moment before she reached over to the bottom of her bunk and pulled on the oversized grey crew neck sweater with a triangle on the front with the words ‘Whiskey Hands’ beneath it, which she’d discarded earlier that morning and slid out of her dark confines, heading to the front of the bus, pausing for a moment to retie the draw string to her black and red Adidas basketball shorts and to grab her black Vans before continuing.

This was unfortunately a common occurrence for the ginger and as such, she had learned long ago that she might as well use her time productively. Spotting her purple Phantom backpack tucked away between the couch and bench for the small table, she collapsed on the couch to pull on her shoes before grabbing her backpack; glad that the trip between venues was only a two hour drive and that they were already there.

Checking her bag to make sure her camera, phone and wallet were still in there, she grabbed the spare set of keys their driver leaves out especially for her, privy to her night time escapades, and stepped off the bus and into the cool darkness of night. It was during these bouts of sleeplessness and restlessness that she explored the town or city that they were in, only ever travelling at the most ten blocks from the bus. But it was enough for her to map out all the cafés, take away joints and stores which would interest the others.

Tonight was no different, heading out of the venue Taylah stood on the sidewalk, starring out at the shops that lined the street across her, deciding on which direction she should go in. Frowning slightly, she looked both ways before shrugging, deciding to go right. As she began walking, the sound of Mike’s hurried footsteps reached her ears, causing her to stop and turn around, only knowing that it was Mike because he’d called out to her.

“Where are you going?” he panted, having finally caught up and falling into step with the shorter girl, smiling cheekily at the sight of her sweater. She shrugged, gesturing listlessly in the general direction that they were walking in.

“I was thinking of walking this way til the end of the block then turning to see what else this place has to offer.” As one they crossed the empty road and continued to walk, taking in everything this small district they were exploring had to offer while they went through random conversation changes.

“What made you want to be a drum tech?” Mike asked as the two looked into the window of a clothing store, picking out what they would buy and what looked completely grotty. He felt Taylah shrug beside him as she gazed into the dark store.

“Not sure really, I wanted to be so many things when I was a kid that my dad would get pissed off because I kept changing my mind. To be honest, drum tech wasn’t ever really on of my list of things I wanted to be.”

“What was?” Mike asked as they continued down the street, taking note of the small café on the corner. Taylah hummed as she thought, pulling her bag off to grab her camera before putting it back on.

“Plenty of things,” she said finally, gently taking off the lens cap and booting up the black device. “Most had to do with books. Editor, publisher, author; they were my main focus for a long time. But when I was in year 11 I was taking photography which was a certificate 2 class and I thought, ‘Hey, I could do this for a living, it’s fun, I enjoy it and apparently others like my work’, that’s when I started Loud & Proud magazine. Well at the time it was just an online thing where I’d interview my friends who were in bands. That’s kinda where I got the idea to be a drummer on the side, I was talking to the drum tech to The Stratagem and he was saying how it was such a great job and that he wouldn’t change it for the world. He’s the one taught me how to play.”

Taylah shrugged as she flicked through her pictures. “Around that time Lily announced that she wanted to start a band and I thought, ‘Here’s the chance to be a drummer’ and the rest is history I guess.” Mike nodded and they turned the next corner, walking a couple of feet before Taylah smiled and raised her camera.

“Smile, Mike,” she said and he turned to shoot her a cheesy smile which caused her to laugh as she took it, lowering the camera she pressed the view button, smiling happily at the black and white picture. Mike had been standing just beneath the street light causing his black hoody to almost glow in the image and his Medusa piercing to glint. Happy with it, she turned the camera to show Mike.

“I’m so pretty,” Mike gushed girlishly, cupping his face while he smiled down at the ginger.

“Yes, Mike, you’re a very pretty girl,” Taylah murmured as she turned the camera back to her, powering it down for the moment and hanging it around her neck. Mike laughed and bumped his shoulder against hers before throwing an arm around her shoulders.

“I’m glad you didn’t decide to take one of those book jobs. You make a great photographer.”

“Thanks,” she whispered as a blush spread over her cheeks. Taylah never had taken compliments well, always thinking her work wasn’t that good. “I’m glad I didn’t either.”

“Yeah?” Mike asked, looking down at the girl who he was quickly becoming attached to.

“Yeah, then I wouldn’t of met you.”

“Aw,” he cooed as he pulled her closer to his side, wrapping her in a sideways hug as they continued to walk. “That was so cheesy! It was adorable.” He smiled at the sight of her dark blush, leaning down; he lowered his head to kiss the top of hers. “I’m glad we met too.”

“Who’s the cheesy one now?” she asked, looking up at him with a smirk.

“Still you,” he said his smile still in place as they walked.

“I can deal with that,” she said, resting her head against his shoulder, eyes shifting from store front to store front before she squealed happily and ran down ahead of Mike, practically jumping up and down as she gazed longingly at the window.

Amused, Mike continued at his leisurely pace, joining her a minute later, taking in the displays of new and second hand books. Reaching around her, he gently pulled the camera over her head and turned it on before turning it to Taylah who hadn’t even noticed the absence of her camera, still plastered to the front of the window, creating a cloud of fog due to her excited breathing. Mike smiled as he snapped the picture of his oblivious companion before looking down at the preview, glad that the black and white image showed the fog cloud on the glass, the glow of the street light bouncing off of the window and reflecting in her glasses. Fiddling with the settings, changing them back to colour, he snapped an identical image before turning the camera off once more and hanging it around his neck.

“They have the new John Green book I want! Ooh and look, a collector’s edition Star Wars with a gilded cover,” Taylah turned to look at him, her finger pointing on the glass. “Look, Mike!” she gushed as he walked over to stand beside her and look into the dark store. Taylah squinted slightly to see further into the shop before gasping. “They have the Doctor Who book I want! Oh my gosh I’m so coming here later when they’re open!”

Mike simply laughed, grabbing her hand and pulling her away from the window. “Come on, it’s about 5:30 or something, we’ll keep exploring and come back on our way to the buses.”

“6 actually,” she said having checked her watch before she fell into step beside Mike, swinging their still linked hands between them as they strolled down the footpath. As they turned the corner to the forth block of their mini escapade, they spotted a café that was just opening.

“Shall we?” Mike asked upon spotting a worker place the black board sign out front of the small shop, announcing that they were open.

“We shall,” Taylah agreed.

---

‘Where the fuck are you?’ Danny cried into the phone.

Taylah rolled her eyes as she sat back in her seat, resting her fork down on the edge of her plate. “A cute, little coffee shop four blocks away from the venue, eating breakfast with Mike. Why?” Mike shot her a random face which caused her to grin and swat at his shoulder over the small round table.

‘Because I was freaking out that’s why! I wake up to find your bunk empty, no note, no messages, bag gone. I was worried, babe.’ Danny sighed into the phone and Taylah could clearly picture her brother rubbing a hand down his face and up through his hair.

“Sorry, Dan, no need to go all ‘Missus Weasley’ on me; I figured you would be asleep for another hour or so. But seeing as you’re up, why don’t you get the guys and join us for breakfast. This place is pretty awesome, and cheap,” she said as she reached for Mike’s glass of fresh squeezed orange juice, ignoring his narrowed gaze as she sipped, raising her eyebrow at him.

‘Yeah, okay. I’ll get everyone and we’ll go. Where is it?’

“Four blocks in. Turn left on the first block, go straight for two, then chuck a right and you’ll see it. It’s called, uh,” Taylah paused as she turned the little sugar, salt and pepper holder around so she could see the flyer for the place, “it’s called Star Coffee.”

‘Got it, see you in a few.’

“Talk soon. Bye,” Taylah said and hung up, sliding her phone back into her bag before she resumed eating.

“Was he mad?” Mike asked in between bites of egg and bacon.

“Not so much mad as worried. I have this habit of getting lost when I walk around and he freaks out, it’s his big brother instincts coming into play,” she replied as she stacked her bacon, eggs, hash browns and fried tomatoes onto her bread and making it a sandwich. “What about you, does Vic ever get worried and call you at random times?”

Mike nodded as he chewed, taking a sip of his juice before answering. “Yeah, every now and then when we’re separated and he doesn’t know I’ve gone I’ll get a call asking where I was.”

“I honestly don’t mind, it’s just one of those little things I feel cement his love for me, the fact that he worries over the little things. Whether I’ve eaten, if I’ve had enough sleep, it’s nice being looked after like that.” Mike smiled across at Taylah as she ate; finding it endearing how much she cared for her family.

The two were halfway through their breakfast when the bell on the door signalled that the guys had arrived. Danny seemed to have only managed to talk Shay, Andy, Lily, Vic, Tony, Casey, Oli, Austin and Alan into coming for breakfast, which wasn’t all bad, to be honest, the shop was so small it didn’t seem like it’d be able to fit everyone in. Walking over, they slid tables over to join Taylah and Mike’s before sitting down, the waitress who had served the two coming over with menus and taking their drink orders.

Austin leaned against the table as he looked over Lily’s shoulder at the menu before looking up at Taylah and frowning slightly, brown eyes taking in the slight bags beneath her own and her weary expression. “Have you slept yet, Tay?” he asked her, unintentionally drawing the attention of the others.

“Not yet, tried my hardest but I just couldn’t. Decided I’d explore the area and Mike tagged along,” Taylah replied as she took a bite out of the sandwich she created.

Danny groaned from his place beside her. “Babe, that’s not healthy.”

Taylah shrugged as she turned to him, “I know, but it’s not like I can help it. It happens every tour, you know that. First couple of weeks I have insomnia then I’m fine, sleeping straight through.”

“Promise to try and get some sleep when we get back to the bus?”

“Pinky promise,” she replied, setting her food down and wiping her hands on her napkin before holding the aforementioned finger out, which Danny wrapped his own pinky around.

“The two of you are like, what everyone wishes siblings were like,” Shay said with a shake of her head as the waitress came back with the various coffees, juices and teas that everyone had ordered. Taylah stuck her tongue out at Shay before going back to her food while Mike laughed at her.

“So what are everyone’s plans for today?” Lily asked as she took a sip of her juice.

“I promised Taylah that I’d take her to the bookstore we passed on the way here, so we’ll probably go there on the way back and just check out some of the clothing stores that seemed interesting,” Mike answered as he finished the last of his food, Taylah nodding in agreement.

“I might see if I can find a music store. Haven’t bought new CDs in over six months,” Vic answered while flagging down the waitress so they could order food.

“Oh that sounds cool, mind if I come?” Shay asked while Tony and Alan nodded along.

Vic turned to her with an easy smile. “Of course you can, I’d like the company,” he said before turning back and placing his order, the others following suit. Taylah and Mike spent another half an hour with the group before they stood, stating that they wanted to explore some more. Taylah and Mike laid down the money to cover the food they ordered on the table before waving goodbye and disappearing out the door.

“They’ll be dating by the end of the month,” Oli stated as he drank his coffee.

“No way, I say two weeks,” Tony said as browsed his phone.

“I’m with Tony,” Shay and Andy chimed together.

“Please,” Lily said with an amused expression. “We all know it’s only going to take a week.” Alan pointed at her and nodded as he drank his coffee.

“End of today,” Austin chipped in.

“Agreed, knowing Mike, he’s going to want to make her his as soon as possible,” Vic said, agreeing with Austin.

“I say three days. Ten bucks and the loser buys first round?” Danny asked as he looked at everyone.

“Deal.” They chorused while Casey shook his head. Knowing Mike, he’d probably wait until he and Taylah had hung around a fair amount and knew each other better, and then he’d ask her to be his girlfriend. Not to say he wouldn’t try to flirt with or kiss her, but it’d take over a month for Mike to properly ask her. Some things only drum techs had an understanding of.

Notes

(open it in a new tab to see the picture)

So the image above is Taylah's sweater in tee shirt form, just so everyone knows that, I'm honestly terrible with describing things.
I based Taylah on my self (I'm slightly conceited that way) so basically everything she says about what she wants to be is what I'm doing now aside from being a drum tech, I don't know how to play. And my magazine blog thing has a different name, but I haven't posted anything yet.
I hope you liked the slightly fluffy chapter.

Chapter title: Where Are You Going Now by The Lazy Calm.