California

I stared at the ceiling above me, trying to get my mind to shut up. Everyone else had long since gone to bed, eager to get a good night’s sleep after the long day we had. Our tour bus had broken down on the way to New York, and we had to call a mechanic to come look at it on the side of the road. Luckily he was able to fix it, but we rolled into the hotel at eight o’clock at night instead of our original schedule of three. I was exhausted in every sense of the word, but for some reason my mind seemed to be working double time to prevent me from getting any sleep. I glanced over to Mikey, whose face was turned away from me. I poked him in his arm. “Are you awake?” I whispered.

“Yes, why?” came his muffled reply. He turned his head to look at me and I could tell he was tired as well. His eyes were bloodshot and he had bags under his eyes. He gave me a small smile and I returned it.

“I can’t sleep.”

“Why is that?” he asked, turning to face me fully now.

“My mind is being incredibly noisy.”

“Have you tried focusing on your heartbeat? That’s supposed to help,” he yawned, pulling me closer.

I shook my head. “It doesn’t work. Neither does counting sheep.”

He smiled. “Did you try some tea? It might relax you enough.”

“No. That’s a great idea. Do you want some?”

He looked at me before he flung the covers off of us, revealing his bare chest. “I’ll make it. You Americans don’t know how to make a proper cup of tea.” I chuckled and sat up, watching him walk into the kitchen of the hotel room. I swung my legs over the side and stood up, walking to the bathroom. I washed my hands with the nice-smelling lilac soap and dried them on the heavenly towels.

“It’s nearly ready,” Mikey’s voice drifted in. I walked out and saw him standing at the kitchen stove watching the kettle. He’s so breathtaking. His tattooed arms weren’t scrawny, but they weren’t incredibly muscular either, they were a perfect in between. His hair was in disarray from tossing and turning all night, and he was wearing only his boxer shorts. He looked up and raised his eyebrows. “What?”


I shrugged and walked over to him, standing on my tiptoes to kiss him. “I’m just thinking how lucky I am to have you.” He grinned as the kettle started whistling. He turned the burner off and got out two mugs. He fixed the tea to his liking and handed me my mug. I thanked him and we made our way back into bedroom. He turned on the small lamp on the table next to his side and then scooted closer to me.

“I know what we should do,” I said as I took a sip. I had to admit, he did make tea better than anyone else I knew.

He looked over to me and smiled. “What would that be?”

“We could ask each other questions again? I always love hearing your answers.” He nodded. “Do you believe in aliens?” He nodded again.

“With how big the galaxy is, it’s hard to believe there isn’t other intelligent life.” He thought of a question. “What about ghosts?”

“Most definitely. Haven’t you ever seen the show Ghost Adventures?”

“No, I can’t say that I have.”

I shook my head. “You should watch it. The lead investigator, Zak, is fine,” I said, teasing him. He dropped his jaw and slapped a hand over his chest. I giggled. “Just kidding. No one compares to you.”

“So nice of you to say,” he smiled and gave me a kiss on the nose. “It’s your turn now, love.”

“You know that drives me crazy right?” I asked. He smirked and leaned in next to my ear. In a husky voice he whispered, “You better think of a question now, love.” I shivered as he pulled away and grinned.

“After seeing how some of the fans act towards Vic and the guys and some of the stuff they have to deal with, does it make you nervous about getting bigger than you already are?”

He shrugged. “Yes and no. I mean, you don’t really get into music for that, that’s just something that comes with it. It doesn’t necessarily make it a bad thing. I think the worst thing about it is you can’t give everyone the time of day that you want to.” I smiled at his answer. After they played their set I’d sometimes go to their merchandise table and snap a few pictures of them with fans. It always warmed my heart seeing him interact with his fans because it’s clear the genuine joy they bring him. “What are the three best things in the world?”

I thought about it while I took another sip of tea. “Dogs, music, and friends/family. Do you like the recording process?”

“It’s not bad. The worst thing with our last album was when James got water all over the floor of the bathroom,” he chuckled. “What’s your favorite song of all time?”

“1949,” I blushed and looked away when he glanced at me.

“Really?”

I smiled. “Well, it holds special meaning,” I said, referencing the night we got stuck in the elevator. He nodded. “What’s the biggest turn off?” I asked.

“Feet,” he immediately cringed. I laughed and bent my leg to get my feet as close to his face as possible. He giggled and pushed my leg away. “Your feet are actually cute.” I grinned. He took a gulp of tea and thought about his next question. “Tell me the story about how you got arrested!”

I groaned. “It was a few days after I met Vic and Mike. I was going to meet Jaime and Tony there so we could have a drink in celebration of their new band. They got stuck out of town so I went over by myself and all three of us got completely shit-faced. Mike passed around a joint and we were having deep philosophical conversations when he blurted out that he’s never pet a penguin,” Mikey was already struggling to hold in his laugher. “Vic agreed and I suggested we go to the zoo to see what they feel like. We somehow managed to stumble our way the three miles to the zoo. Well, as you can imagine, the zoo was not open at midnight. We were already there, and Mike was determined. We tried to climb over the wall, but Vic got stuck in the bars and we had to wait there until the cops came.”

Mikey burst into laughter, holding his gut while I blushed. Through his laughter he asked, “You got arrested for trying to break into the zoo to pet penguins?!” He laughed for several moments before he finally calmed down and grinned at me.

I asked, “Who was your childhood hero?”

“Batman!” he said enthusiastically. I chuckled. “Favorite animal?”

“Bull shark,” I said. “If you had an autobiography, what would be the title of it?”

“’I didn’t mean to do that’,” he chuckled. “Who do you look up to the most?”

“Tom DeLonge! What did you want to be when you were younger?”

“Pokémon master…is that lame?” I laughed and nodded.

“Only slightly.” He grinned. “What’s your favorite show?”

“Criminal Minds right now. Would you rather have a Grammy or a million pounds?”
He thought about it a second. “A million pounds.”

He leaned over and kissed me. “What was that for?”

He shrugged. “I love you is all. Favorite video game?”

“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Battle Nexus for GameCube.”

“That sounds brilliant. I’ve never played a ninja turtle game before.”

I gasped. “We have to play it one day! It’s so cool. It’s moving throughout the 2003 series, and you can even be Splinter. The only downside is it doesn’t have Miyamoto Usagi,” I frowned.

“Is that the samurai bunny?” I nodded. “They should make a game where you can play him. That’d be cool.”

“Yeah, he’s my second favorite character. How to do you cure boredom?”

“Watch videos of people epically fail on YouTube. Have you ever dyed your hair?”

“Yeah, I dyed it black in high school.”

“Me too,” he chuckled.

I gasped. “You dyed your beautiful hair?”

He shrugged. “I thought it’d look cool.”

“No! Your natural hair is gorgeous,” I said and ran my hands through it. He blushed. “What’s the last song you listened to?”

“Brothers on a Hotel Bed by Death Cab for Cutie. How old were you when you first drank alcohol?”

“Thirteen.”

He gasped, “You naughty girl!” I grinned. “What’s your favorite website?”

“I’m going to be boring and say YouTube.”

I rolled my eyes. “Of course. Are you getting tired yet?” I asked and yawned.

He nodded. “Yeah, do you want to try going to bed again?”
I nodded and he kissed my forehead before turning the light off. I snuggled up to him and almost instantly fell asleep.

Notes