June 28th, 2012

I stood on the barrier off to the side of the stage, a security guard holding onto my belt to keep me steady while I snapped pictures of the guys as the set ended.

“Thank you Scottsdale!” Vic yelled into the mic before leaving the stage. I jumped down from the barrier and ran around back to meet the guys.

“You get any good pictures?” Tony asked as I walked over to them all.

“Did I get any good pictures? I'm insulted, I always get good pictures.” I said as I pulled the pictures up on the screen of my camera for him to see. He put his arm around my waist and rested his chin on my shoulder as I showed him the pictures. I just laughed and shook my head.

“What?” He asked.

“You are disgustingly sweaty and you're getting it all over me.” I laughed.

“Here, have some more.” He said, wrapping his arms around me.

“Gross, get off of me.” I squealed as I fought to get away from him. “Vic, get him off of me.” I begged as he walked over to us.

“What's that? Join in you say? Okay!” He said wrapping his sweaty arms around me too.

“Oh come on! You guys are gross!” I whined.

“Mike, Hime, get over here!” Tony yelled. Mike and Jaime looked over and grinned evilly at me as they joined the group hug.

“Someone get these sweaty Mexicans off of me!” I yelled, causing them all to laugh.

“This is what you get for not coming on stage!” Vic said.

“I did go on stage though!” I laughed. “Just not for the reason you wanted.”

“I heard yelling and something about sweaty Mexicans, what's going on?” Kellin asked.

“Oh thank god.” I sighed. “Get them off of me!” He made a thoughtful look and then shook his head.

“Nah.” He said and then walked away. I glared at him as I continued to try to get the guys off of me, even though I knew that it was no use.

“I'll get you later for this!” I called after him.

Finally they all let go of me and I straightened out my clothes and redid my bun quickly. I cringed at how gross I felt. Not only was I covered in their sweat, but my own. As if the Arizona heat wasn't enough, their body heat made it worse.

“Just for that, I'm showering before all of you fuckers.” I said pointing and glaring at them all.

“Oh you wanna bet?” Mike asked.

“Whoever gets there first wins. 321go!” Jaime yelled and then took off.

We all raced back to the bus, Mike got there first, followed by me and Jaime who got there at the same time. I tried to push my way past him to get on the bus before him, but Tony came up behind me, picked me up, and put me down a few feet away from the bus and then ran on the bus after Jaime, and then Vic ran quickly on the bus before I could. I went inside, glaring daggers at them.

“I hate you all.” I said as I went to my bunk.

I grabbed my towel and new clothes out of my bag, and then went up to the front lounge. I laid down on the couch, putting my feet on Jaime's lap, and pulled out my phone. I texted Zack quickly, asking if I could use their shower since I didn't feel like waiting for all four of the boys to be done. As soon as he texted back saying I could, I jumped up off the couch and went to leave.

“Where are you going?” Jaime asked.

“To shower. I don't feel like waiting for you all to be done.” I said and then ran off the bus.

I headed over to Zack's bus. When I got there he, Jack, and Rian were all sitting outside drinking.

“Day drinking I see?” I said as I walked up to them.

“Jacie!” Jack screamed as he jumped out of his chair. He ran over to me and tackled me to the ground in a tight hug.

“Jack get off of me.” I laughed. He listened and helped me up.

“Whatcha doing here?” Rian asked, clearly surprised to see me.

“Stealing your shower. I'm covered in Mexican sweat.” I said. Rian laughed and nodded.

“Well alright then, have at it.” He said. I laughed and thanked him then ran on the bus, dropped my clothes off in the back lounge, and headed straight for the shower.

As soon as I got in I realized I had forgotten to grab any of my soaps so I just said fuck it and used what was in the shower. I didn't really care if I smelled like a guy, it was better than sweat. Once I washed myself I rinsed off and got out. I wrapped my towel tightly around my chest and left the bathroom. As I turned to go into the back lounge I ran directly into someone's chest.

“Shit, sorry.” I said as I looked up. I frowned when I saw Alex standing in front of me. He looked confused for a second, but his confusion quickly turned a sad look and then to anger.

“Bye.” He spat and stormed off the bus.

I rolled my eyes and went in the back lounge, closing the door behind myself. I got dressed quickly, slipped on my shoes, grabbed my towel and old clothes, and then left the bus.

“You wanna stick around for some drinks?” Zack asked. I shook my head and gave him a quick hug.

“No, gotta get pictures edited and call my dad.” I told him. “Plus. I'm pretty sure I'm not totally welcome.” I said, glancing over at Alex who was sipping a beer and glaring at me. “Maybe another time.”

“Alright.” He said. “Don't be a stranger though.”

“I won't, I promise. Love you.” I said and then ran back to my bus.

When I got back to the bus, Mike had finished showering and was playing Mario Kart with Jaime. I assumed Vic was in the shower right now because Tony was sitting on the couch, sleeping I think, and he was nowhere in sight. I plopped down on the couch next to Tony, making him jump.

“Sleeping?” I asked. He laughed and shook his head.

“Resting my eyes.” He corrected.

“Same thing. It leads to sleeping.” I told him.

“Why do you smell like a dude?” He laughed.

“Because it's the only soap Zack had.” I said. “I still smell better than you though.”

“Hey Jace, you wanna join in?” Mike asked, holding a controller out to me. I shook my head and stood up.

“Nah, I gotta call my dad. He's probably freaking out because it's been more than two days since I called last. I said.

“You are such a daddy's girl.” Jaime laughed as he shook his head.

I just shrugged and headed to the back lounge. I pulled my phone out and dialed my dad's number as laid down on the couch. The phone only rang once before he picked up.

“Jacelynn Rae, you were supposed to call me yesterday.” He said sternly. I laughed and shook my head.

“Sorry dad, things got a little busy last night.” I told him.

“And by that you mean you were all too drunk to function?” He laughed.

“No, the guys played later in the day and then we had a huge soccer game” I said. “And then we got too drunk to function.”

He laughed again, but his laugh quickly turned into a cough. I frowned. Was he sick?

“Are you sick or something?” I asked.

“Yeah just a stupid cold.” He said.

“In June?” He rarely got sick, and absolutely never during the summer.

“Yeah, someone came to work sick and I guess I managed to catch it. Don't worry about it though, it'll be gone by morning.” He said, shrugging it off. I nodded to myself.

“So how's Max doing?” I asked him.

“He's doing good. I think he misses you though. He just mopes around the house most of the day, and when he's not doing that he's following me around.”

“Yeah that sounds like Max.” I laughed.

“Hey kiddo, I'm gonna let you go. Your uh… your grandmother is freaking out about something, I need to go see what her problem is.” He said. I frowned.

“Alright, tell mom and Grams said hi and I love them. And Kate if you see her.” I said, trying not to sound disappointed.

“Will do. Love you.”

“Love you too.” I said and hung up.

I sat on the couch, spinning my phone in my hand. Something didn't seem right with him. The door opened a bit and I looked up, seeing Tony peeking his head in.

“You still on the phone?” He asked. I shook my head and looked down as I continued twirling my phone in my hands. “That was quick. You're usually on the phone with him for hours.”

“Yeah I guess my Gram was going crazy so he had to go.” I sighed.

“You alright?” I nodded and leaned back on the couch.

“Yeah. He just seemed off, and he sounded sick, but he never gets sick.” I explained.

“He's probably fine, you just haven't seen him in a while and you're home sick. Don't over think it. Now go get ready. We're going down to the field.” He said, flashing me that wonderful smile of his. That smile made me feel better every time without fail.

I got up and left the back lounge, going to straight to the bathroom. I ran my fingers through the knotted mess on my head that I called hair, attempting to brush it out without actually having to find my hairbrush that had been missing for days now. Once I got most of the knots out I threw it into a ponytail. Once I finished up I headed up to the front lounge where the boys were waiting for me.

“You might want shorts. You're playing this time.” Vic said.

I gave him a thumbs up and went to my bunk. I grabbed a pair of shorts out of my bag, dropped my pants, and pulled my shorts on.

“Whoa, your back piece goes all the way onto your ass?” Mike said in disbelief. I turned around and glared at him.

“Stop staring at my ass, Michael.” I said, pointing a threatening finger at him.

“I didn't mean to, but I looked up and it was there.” He laughed. “So when are you gonna show us your full back piece? We've only been able to see a couple parts of it, not the whole thing.”

I just shrugged. I knew they had all been dying to see it since I got it done, but I was having fun making them wait. I wouldn't even let any of them go with me. Usually at least one of them likes to come with me, but I didn't let them this time. Mostly because it went down onto my ass like Mike had said, and parts of it wrapped around my side right below my breasts, and even on them in one spot. I had no shame changing in front of them, to an extent. Seeing me almost completely naked is a totally different thing though and I knew that Mike would never let me live that down.

“You'll probably see it next time we go swimming.” I said as I slipped on my running sneakers

“Well we should probably go swimming soon, the suspense might end up killing Mike.” Jaime laughed.

“We should also probably head down to the field before we lose by default for being late.” I said.

When we got down to the field, Jenna and the guys from Tonight Alive were finishing up their match against Memphis Mayfire. We sat on the sidelines as they finished up their game. When they were done I tightened my shoelaces and Jenna came and sat next to me.

“So which one are you related to?” She asked, nodding toward the guys from All Time Low who were taking the field with their crew.

“Zack, the giant one” I told her. She nodded and looked back at me.

“Gonna see some family rivalry?” She asked. I laughed and nodded.

“More than likely. We go hard.”

Zack and I had a tendency to get way to competitive when it came to sports, especially when we were on opposing teams, so this was going to be entertaining for everyone to watch.

I ran onto the field, joining the guys, and we started the game. As expected, Zack and I spent most of the game trying to sabotage each other. As the game got close to the end our teams were tied. Vic had the ball and he kicked it to me before Rian could steal it from him. I dribbled the ball down the field, occasionally passing it to Mike to avoid Jack or Zack stealing it from me.

Mike passed the ball back to me as I got closer to the goal. I kicked the ball ahead of myself a little bit and I brought my foot back, ready to kick it into the goal when someone kicked my feet out from underneath me. I fell back right on my back, smacking my head off the ground.

“Okay, that's gotta be a red card!” I heard Vic yell.

“No red cards, this is for fun, not a real game.” Jake yelled.

I sat up rubbing the back of my head and saw Alex running the ball back down the field. Of course it was him. Mike ran over to help me up, asking me if I was okay. I nodded and brushed him off. If he was going to play dirty I was gonna play dirty right back.

I took off across the field, determined to get that ball back. Rian saw me catching up quickly and went to help Alex but I was a lot faster than he was. I caught up to him and tried to sneak my foot in the get the ball from him. He put his arm out to keep me at a distance but I snuck underneath it, perks of being short, and got the ball away from him momentarily.

It didn't last long though, he ran past me and shoved me back a bit to take the ball from me. I took a deep breath and kept going. As Alex was about to score I did just as he had done to me, and kicked his feet out from underneath him. I took the ball and with one strong kick, passed it all the way to Mike on the other side of the field, allowing him to score and end the game.

“What the hell was that!” Alex yelled at me as he got up.

“I could as you the same fucking thing.” I spat.

“That was an accident.” He said. I laughed and shook my head.

“Sure it was Alex.” I said. “Just like what I just did was an accident.”

“Oh my god, would you fucking grow up!” He snapped.

“Me?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at him as I walked closer to him. “I'm the one who needs to grow up? Have you looked at in a mirror lately? Because I'm pretty sure you're the one who needs to grow up.”

“Says the one who's been taking petty jabs at me since the tour started!” He yelled. “Every time you see me, you've got some little jab saved, just for me!”

“Oh don't try to make yourself feel special Alex. You're taking things out of context and making things up just because you wish that I still cared enough to take petty jabs at you!” I yelled back at him.

“I know that you are! Do you really think I'm that fucking stupid?” He asked. I shrugged with a cheeky smile and he glared down at me before turning to walk away. “You've turned into a real fucking cunt Jace.” He snapped. Immediately I clenched my fist, my blood was boiling.

“What the fuck did you just say?” I asked, walking fast to catch up with him. I grabbed his arm and he whipped around to face me.

“Oh fuck.” Zack muttered.

“Someone grab her, now!” Mike said. Everyone around us just stood there, staring at us, not knowing what was going on.

“I said, you’ve turned into a fucking cunt!” He said, saying it louder, getting closer to my face.

“I'd rather be a cunt than a fucking manwhore!” I yelled.

“Well from what I've heard, you're not doing much better than I am on the whoring around front.” He laughed. “You've had what, ten different boyfriends and girlfriends in the past five years? A never ending string of one night stands to go with it. And then there's the fact you had to whore your way into getting this job.”

That was the last straw. I don't know where the fuck he heard these lies, or if he was just making them up on his own, and I didn't care. I hauled off and Punched him as hard as I could. Immediately after that Zack grabbed Alex, Rian got between us, Jenna came running over to us and Tony pulled me back, wrapping his arms tightly around me to keep me from punching him again.

“Alright, that's enough!” Rian yelled. “You two seriously need to just get over this shit already. It's been five goddamn years. We're all getting sick of it.”

“She's the one who started this shit.” Alex snapped.

“Actually, you started it when you went and fucked someone else” I spat.

“Dudes, both of you shut up.” Jack said. “I feel like I'm a kid caught in the middle of their parents divorce.”

“Alright, I'm taking her with me. I think we've all had enough fun for one day.” Jenna said. Tony let go of me and Jenna grabbed my hand and led me back to the stages, the rest of her band following us

“If you brought me here to take pictures of your set, I don't have my camera.” I said as she dragged me back stage.

“I didn't bring you here for that.” She laughed as she put on her in-ears. “I just wanted to get you out of there because you managed to get free and beat the living daylights out of Alex. But now that you're here, you're gonna get your anger out by joining me on stage.”

“Oh no. Not happening.” I said, holding my hands up and backing away from her.

“Oh yes it is.” She said, grabbing my hand, pulling me closer to the stage. “Just pretend it's karaoke night and have fun, you'll feel loads better

Notes

Jacie's Outfit