The World Tour

“Lynn are you gonna hurry up?” Alex called on me, his voice booming through the whole apartment. Nerves began running through my veins, it was scary to think that tonight we’d be playing one of the first shows we had played since warped tour last year. The past year was like a whirlwind. But the best part is that we’re going back home to San Diego to play this show and embark on a six week tour.

“I’m coming” I shouted back as I threw the last items of clothing into my suitcase. My body is ready for this, I’m ready for this. I looked around my room for one last time. “See you soon bed” I patted it and then left my room. I rolled my suitcase behind me and went into the livingroom. “I’m ready losers” I entered.

“Finally, we’ve only been waiting for like, I don’t three hours” Brian rolled his eyes at me.

“Well I’m sorry. I had to make sure I’ve got everything” I shrugged.

“So Lynn, are you ready for this tour?” Alex asked. I looked at him and smiled.

“It’s our first really big tour since we released White Noise, we need to get into the swing of things. I’m ready for this, even if it’s touring with a band I’ve never heard of before” I told them.

“You’re right” Brian wrapped his arm around my shoulder. “We’re gonna have fun, make some new friends and have the best tour ever” He grinned at us.

“Now let’s go and enjoy this tour” We left the apartment and made our way to the bus we were going to be sharing with the support band. It was parked outside our apartment lot.

“What’s the name of these guys?” I asked, watching them all walk off the bus.

“Issues” Brian leaned in to say quietly.

We walked over to them and they all looked extremely hungover. “Hey, I’m Lynn” I extended my hand out to one of the members. He looked at and smiled.

“Cute” He laughed and took it in his. “I’m Tyler” He shook my hand and let go.

“Looks like we’re sharing a bus for six weeks” Another dude chimmed in. I looked at him and smiled.

“Could be worse, I heard Mike and Kellin were arguing over bunks on their bus” Some other guy laughed.

“Anyway, I’m Michael, this is Sky, AJ and Josh” Michael pointed out. I said hi to them all.

“Alex and Brian” I nodded behind me.

“I’m sorry I don’t mean to be weird but I really love your music” Tyler gushed like a little fangirl. I felt myself blush at how nice he is. They all seem really nice actually.

We got on the bus, chose our bunks and embarked on the hour and a half journey to San Diego. “So have you toured with the bands before?” Michael asked me. I shook my head no. “Do you even know them at all?” I laughed and shook my head no. “Oh, Ty she don’t know the main game on this tour” Michael shouted to Tyler.

Tyler perked up and raised an eyebrow. “Oh this is interesting. We’re gonna leave it as a suprise. You’ll know them as soon as you see them I bet” Tyler laughed.

“Probably, oh well” I shrugged.

“The world tour” Michael laughed. “This is fun already” He got up off the couch and walked into the bunk area.

Times have changed. Everything is different now and I don’t know if being a failure for the most part has shut me off from pretty much the whole world or that I just don’t really pay attention to other bands out there right now. We took this gig out of desperation, I was scared that we would finally fail.

After we left for LA not much happened, the band kinda disbanded for about five years and we all got normal jobs. Things happened and we lost our passion. I was ready to go home to San Diego about a year ago when we got a call. We were being offered a record deal and they wanted an album by November 2014. We finally made it.

The album was our defining moment and the likes of Hayley Williams and Jenna McDougall wanted to get involved with the music we were making. It made me incredibly grateful that we had been given this last chance. So when the call for ‘The World Tour’ came I said yes straight away, without even finding out what the tour was. It was a last minute decision because another band dropped out.

I have a few regrets for the past eight years but now that things are beginning to pick up, maybe it was worth it all.

My phone buzzed, I looked at it and seen I had a new text. ‘Enjoy your tour, I’ll see you in a week’ I read. I smiled at the screen. My boyfriend Alan was sweet, he has been through a lot with me and his support is incredible. We’ve been together for about two years now and it is something that I have never been happier about.

I text him back and then began looking through some social medias, unsure of what to do. I’ve never really been on tour other than Warped Tour. Which is different, there isn’t buses for small bands like us. We just get piled into a van and drive. Which is really fun but this is different.

The Cali landscape disappeared in front of me, a LA to San Diego. The journey ended a lot quicker than I was anticipated. “We’re here” Tyler jumped off his seat and almost ran off the moving bus. I looked at Michael who just shrugged.

“He’s a little bit crazy” He told me.

“Crazy is okay, I can deal with crazy” I laughed. We walked off the bus and there was another bus next to us.

“Kellin just text me, they’re at sound check, we can go listen or avoid fans” Tyler explained to us. I looked at Brian and Alex and they just nodded.

“Sure, let’s go listen. We have to sound check anyway” I pointed out.

“We’re just gonna chill on the bus, text us when soundcheck starts” Alex told me. I gave him a thumbs up and walked off.

“Yeah you’re right. Let’s go” Michael let me go first so I was next to Tyler.

“So Tyler, how is the touring life?” I asked, curious from another persons point of view.

“Well, it’s fun, tiring and very very rewarding. When you hear everyone out there singing your songs back at you. It feels amazing. It’s beautiful” He sounds so passionate about his music.

We showed our passes and got into the venue floor. The room was big, I could see some dudes on the state, the singer had longish black hair. “So here we go, you got one more chance to make it, better not lose control before everyone forgets your name... yeah” His voice was so high, but it was kinda adorable. “Here we go, you’ve got one more chance to make it” He flicked his hair out of his eyes as we walked down to the barricade. He looked at the sound guys and pointed up.

The song played through with some random parts being sung then it ended. “That was funny Kellin” A guy said through the mic. I guess Kellin is the singer then.

“Tyler who’s this?” Kellin I think, said pointing down to me.

“PVRIS” He said loudly.

“Oh, yeah sorry I can barely see through my own hair” Kellin said dryly. Is this his kinda humour? “PTV you’re up next” He said down the mic then left.

“PTV?” I asked looking at Tyler. He just nodded and looked at the front of the stage.

The guitar began softly playing, a small intro. A voice began singing, something I could barely make out. Out jumped the bass player moving about too much, dancing and jumping up on stuff. A guitar player next, he looked oddly familiar, he was covered in tattoos. The singer jumped out next and ran to the middle of the stage with his guitar and snapback covering most of his face. “Cannot spend another night in this home, I close my eyes and take a breath real slow. The consequence is if I leave I’m alone...” “This is a wasteland my only retreat. With heaven above me there’s Hell over me” His voice was way too familar, they must get played on the radio a lot.

“So you know who they are right?” Tyler shouted to me. The movement caused the singer to look at us and his face screwed up.

“I just cant.... I’ve waited all this night to honour you, and say I know it’s hard but who are you to fall apart on me? on me” He sung. “This is a wasteland my only retreat, with heaven above you there’s Hell over me” He sung, he wasn’t watching where he was going and bumped into the guitarist who accidently hit him in the head, the singers hat came flying off his head and he tripped over some cables.

The music stopped and we all looked at the singer now on his knees, trying to find his hat. He picked it up and pushed his hair out of his eyes. No. No way. “Sorry guys” He said sheepishly and stood back up, guitar in hand. He looked over at me and cocked his head to the side. I watched for a minute as the cogs in his brain turned.

“Yeah I know who they are... I went to high school with them” I said looking up at Tyler slowly. He looked down and then back up at the stage.

“Wait what?” He said with confusion. I looked at the guitarist and realised it was Tony, Jaime was the bassist and Mike was on drums. It’s like Vic always wanted but he got there way before I did. I’m happy for them.

They all one by one began realising who I was. “Lynn?” Jaime said into his mic. I looked up at him and smiled.

“The one and only” The look on all of their faces was out of this world.

Notes

Part two, as requested