California

I woke to the sound of the guys shouting at the television in the lounge. I groaned and rubbed my eyes, a grin immediately spreading across my lips as I remembered that Mikey and I had a date tonight. I stretched and climbed out of my bunk, careful to not bump my head. I hopped onto the floor and headed into the lounge, glaring at the guys who were playing Mario Kart.

“Hey, sleepyhead,” Tony said, looking up briefly from the screen. “You got in pretty late last night, almost missed bus call.”

“Yeah, I saw you leave the bar with Mikey,” Vic spoke up as I sat down next to him on the comfy leather couch. I ran my fingers through my hair.

“Did you guys fuck?” Mike said, getting straight to the point. I chuckled and buried my face into Vic’s shoulder.

“No, but we kissed.”

“You what?” Jaime said, pausing the game. I blushed as they all stared at me with wide eyes. “You’ve known him a day!”

“So? I like him.” Tony raised an eyebrow at me. I wasn’t one to kiss guys I barely knew, and they all knew that. Plus, they always gave me the third degree whenever I was interested in a guy. They’re all very protective of me.

“Are you guys together now?” Vic asked, craning his neck to look at me.

I bit my lip. “No. We’re going on a date today, but I’m kind of hoping it’ll lead to something.”

“Isn’t that a little fast?” Jaime asked.

“Maybe a little, but he’s different.”

“Just like Jack was different?” He stared at me. I looked up and glared at him. He knew better than to bring up Jack.

“He is different.”

“No offence Sky, but you haven’t had the best record with judging whether or not a guy has good intentions.”

“Gee, thanks, Hime.”

“It’s true! How do you know he isn’t going to turn out exactly like Jack? Where you can’t even be in the same room as him and it ruins the tour for everybody.”

“Jaime man, why don’t you cool off?” Mike said.

“No! She’s going to get fucking heartbroken again and then she will have wished she listened to me.”

“Shut up! I don’t need your opinion on my dating life,” I snapped.

“Guys…” Tony said warningly.

“Yes you do! You always end up with shitty guys who just want to hook up with you and then you end up sad and alone. I don’t want that for you. I’m trying to help you.”

“I must have missed the part where you have a say!” I yelled, standing up.

“Why the hell won’t you just listen to me? He’s just trying to get in your pants,” Jaime stood up as well.

“Jaime, calm down,” Vic said.

“You don’t know anything! Stay the hell out of my life,” I screamed and ran off the bus, ignoring Tony’s calls for me to come back. I scowled at the pavement as I sped across the parking lot in my socks. Jaime could be so annoying sometimes.

“Skylar?” I heard James’s voice from my right. I looked over and saw him leaning up against their bus. “Are you alright?”

“Not really,” I blinked, shielding my eyes from the Arizona sun. He nodded his head towards the space next to him.

“Fancy talking about it?”

I leaned up against the bus next to him and sighed. “Jaime and I got into an argument.”

“About what?”

“Does Mikey sleep with a lot of women?” I asked suddenly, turning to face him. He looked shocked at first and then shook his head.

“No, why?”

“Are you lying to me?” I narrowed my eyes at him.

“I’m telling the truth. He broke up with his last girlfriend about a year ago and hasn’t had any interest in anyone until now.” I stared at him and concluded he was telling the truth.

“Jaime thinks that he just wants to sleep with me and then dump me,” I mumbled.

James snorted. “Nah, mate. That isn’t like him at all. Why did Jaime say that?”

“Let’s just say in the past I haven’t had much luck with guys.”

He nodded in understanding. “I can assure you those are not his intentions. He really likes you. He hasn’t shut up about you since he laid eyes on you. It’s driving us bloody mad, it is.”

I blushed. “Really?”

“Would I ever lie to you?”

I chuckled. “I don’t think so. What should I do about Jaime, though? He never trusts my judgment.”

“You should try talking it out with him. Tell him it isn’t really his business, but you have to understand his point of view as well. He is just trying to look out for you.”

I contemplated that and nodded. “You’re very wise, James.”

He chuckled. “Thanks. Are you going back now or would you like to come in for some breakfast?”

“I don’t think I’m ready to go back there yet. I need to give him some time to calm down too.”

“Alright, come on, then.” He opened the bus door and I followed him in. Their bus was a little smaller than ours, but it was still very nice. As we walked in I heard Mikey and Joe talking.

“The best dinosaur is Pachycephalosaurus. That’s a fact,” Mikey said enthusiastically.

“Is that the underwater one?”

Mikey’s face scrunched up in offence. “No that’s not the underwater one! It’s the-” he stopped when he saw me and stood up. I could tell he had just woken up because his hair was in disarray and he was wearing baggy pajama pants with little dinosaurs on them.

“That’s the one with the hard head that runs into things, right?” I smiled. His eyes lit up and he beamed at me.

“Yeah! What are you doing here?” I could tell he was embarrassed by his pajamas and I giggled.

“Jaime and I got into an argument and James offered me breakfast.”

“You can’t go offering people our pancakes! Are you bloody mad?” Sam came out from the bunk area and grinned at me. I rolled my eyes. He looked over at Mikey’s pajamas and chuckled. “Way to make a good impression.”

Mikey blushed and looked down as I sat on their couch and was handed a plate of pancakes from James. “Hey, I think they’re cute. Dinosaurs are awesome.” Joe, Dave, and James looked at me like I was crazy while Mikey looked ecstatic. “You are wrong about one thing, though, Mikey,” I said as I took a bite of pancakes.

He sat next to me and smiled. “What’s that?”

“Spinosaurus is the best dinosaur,” I stated.

He looked at me like I was crazy. “What, just because it’s big?”

“No, because it’s just awesome. It has a fucking spine on its back that it may have used to control its body temperature!”

“True, but Pachycephalosaurus has a nine inch thick skull!”

“So? Spino is still the best. They should have called it the king of the dinosaurs because he was bigger than Tyrannosaurus Rex.”

He scoffed. “Tyrannosaurus blows. It’s everyone’s favorite dinosaur just because it’s well-known.”

“I know! And people make it out to seem like it was a great predator when in reality it was most likely a scavenger.”

“Exactly. It’s just like people thinking Velociraptor was some impressive hunter.”

I laughed. “I know. How could they get a small turkey sized scavenger mixed up with Deinonychus?”

“It’s ridiculous. Also, why would they name the movie Jurassic Park when-”

“When most of the dinosaurs in the film were from the Cretaceous period!”

We grinned at each other for several moments before Dave whispered to James, “Good lord, there’s two of them.”

Notes