Tour!

A month into the tour you find yourself laying on the couch in one the many backstage areas you have visited the past weeks. You are stressed, and you feel the headache rushing over you. And as you gently massage your temples someone walks into the quiet room and sits next to you. It is Alex. “Hi” he says and you answer. “Are you okay?” he asks softly, it is not much a question out of interest as it is of pure small talk, but you feel concerned about, which is nice. “Headache” you growl into your own palms. Alex lifts your head in scoops in under it with his thighs, so that now you are lying in his lap. He starts massaging your scalp in the most wonderful way and you feel like you are in heaven. The two of you sit like this for a few minutes until the door opens again. This time Jack comes in, but since you are lying down and the back of the couch is turning towards the door, he does not see you. He keeps in position at the door. “Dude, this place is gonna be packed with fans tonight” he says in his typical Jack way. “I know. Good thing we have Laura and Emily to help us out” Alex says and smiles down at you. Jack, still not realizing that you are in the room opens his moth and says something you did not expect to hear. “Dude, it really bad with her… Laura. I can’t seem to get her out of my head”. Alex just realizing what his best friend had said in front of you stiffens and gives you a look. Should  you sit up and tell Jack that you are in the room, or should you just keep still and don’t say a word?

You keep still

You sit up

You Go Home

The train ride home is a drag. Emily had her brother pick up the car since she still is in no state to drive. With the lack of sleep and with alcohol still in her blood you both thought that it would be wisest. You have a hard time keeping your eyes open, so as you drive though the country you just let the trees and fields pass by. You slowly drift off thinking of how incredible your night had been. You are tapped on the shoulder when it is time to get off the train, luckily Emily hadn't also fallen asleep otherwise you would have missed your stop. All you want to do is to go to sleep, but you have to go straight home to one of your group members to do the freaking assignment. As you hug Emily goodbye she gives you a pout telling you how sorry she is that you have to work now. You appreciate her petty.

Weeks go by, and as a matter of fact they go by very slowly. You have never been so tired of school like you are now. Nothing is interesting and you only show up so your absence lever won’t explode. You find yourself talking about that one night at any chance you get, but the more you and Emily talk about it the more you miss it – and miss Jack. That boy really had an impact on you. “You’ll see him in a couple of months honey” Emily says to comfort you. “Months!” you whine “I can’t wait that long” you say. “Sure you can. You just have to take one day at a time” she smiles and tilts her head to the side. “How are you not missing Zack?” you ask. Emily is sitting with her cellphone texting someone, clearly not paying as much attention to you as you would have liked. “And who are you texting?” you ask as well. She smiles and shows you the phone; you read some of it and realize just who it is. “Have you been texting him this whole time?” you whine. Of course it was Zack she was texting. Emily just nods and texts again. You sigh, wishing that Jack would have given his number as well.

As more weeks go by your lack of enthusiasm towards school has started to show on your grades, they are lower than ever and you are called to the principal’s office. You have a small motivating talk about grades and absence, but you pick up on none of it – not until he tells you that you have to work harder otherwise you have to go through senior year again; ALONE! This scares you so much, you can’t go through that again, and definitely without Emily.

You work harder and with the help from your best friend you manage to get a control over your grades again. The exams go by in a rush and before you know it, you are standing with a diploma in your hand. “We did it!” Emily yells to you through the noise of all the happy students. Her phone rings and she excuses herself for a bit. Your principal walks pass you and nods to you. It feels so great to get acknowledged for your hard work, and you are standing with the proof if it in your hands. You don’t care that you won’t need it when you become a photographer; just the fact that you have your diploma is enough to send you sky high. Emily comes back and gives you the phone, “someone wants to talk to you” she says smiling. You take the phone to your ear and hear Jacks voice storming through. “CONGRATULATIONS” he yells. The two of you have a little talk.

A week later you find yourself on an airplane towards London, England to go on your first tour. You can’t wait to see the boys again.

Tour!

Emily's Goodbye

Of course she wouldn't go do the assignment. I don’t blame her, but Laura needs to think about school some more. I am afraid that if she keeps up like this she won’t graduate.

As we are in the bus on the way to the ferries I look around and see a bunch of exhausted people. Laura is in the front of the bus almost half asleep. Alex is also catching some Z’s. I feel something at the back of my head and I turn around to see Jack throwing small balls of paper at me. He chuckles and waves me over. As I sit next to him he starts talking, and it ends up with him asking what my plans are after graduation. “Well, Laura and I were planning on travelling for maybe a year or so, but we need to gather the money first” I say shrugging. I look at him and see his expression change. I do not quite know what is on his mind, but he looks mischievous. He motions for Matt to come over and whispers something in his ear. Matt gets the same expression as Jack and I don’t know if I should be afraid. They tell me that Laura and I should come work for them, which catches completely off guard. “Are you serious?” I ask, I have to be sure. They are. We tell Laura and just seeing the stars in her eyes makes me remember just how much this girl has gone through; finally she can catch a break.

At the ferries when we have to say goodbye to the guys each of them hug me. Zack is the last one to do so though. He kisses my cheek and slips a piece of paper in my hands, it has his number and his e-mail address. He tells me to write him when I get home, and I promise him to do so.

Back to Laura's point of view

You go to the ferries

Honestly you don’t really care about those girls. They have never really been nice to you, and the only reason you are in their group is because your teacher made an attempt to separate you and Emily, which only made you dislike the teacher even more than usual. You express your feelings to Emily and she seems to understand, so you both agree to go with the guys.

You are escorted in a tour bus owned by the venue and all of the gear and music equipment is transported in a van behind the bus. As you step into the bus you remember being here yesterday. The same bus picked you up at the venue last night and took you to the hotel. You feel a bit ashamed about the fact that you let loose so much last night – it’s not really like you to party that hard. You always pass on the alcohol because you are afraid of letting your guard down towards people who you shouldn’t let your guard down to. You know the effect alcohol has on you, and last night wasn’t any different – that you can definitely conclude from the hangover today. Luckily you didn’t do anything that you regret today. The bus is quiet, only a few people are talking about some technical stuff, and you don’t listen. You look around at the people. Alex is sitting on a couch resting his eyes. He looks really cute when he’s this tired. It’s adorable. You notice a person sitting next to you, it’s Adam.

“Give me your number and e-mail address” he says handing you a piece of paper and a sharpie. You smile at him and write down the information. “I’ll look forward to be working with you” he says with a wink before he leaves again. The realization of this whole situation hasn’t quite yet caught up to you and at the moment you just feel exhausted. You find yourself wondering when you’ll wake up, but nothing happens.

“Laura!” you hear someone calling your name, and then some other person laughs. You turn around escaping from your thoughts. You see Matt, Jack and Emily standing in the back of the bus and they are gesturing for you to come join them. You get up and you almost hear your legs and feet scream in agony with every step. “Hi sunshine” Emily says with sarcasm “you look fresh”. “Meh…” is your only response. “So the guys and I were just talking and I told them about our plans for next year” Emily says excitedly. “I told them that we were planning on going traveling, but how we don’t have the money and all, and then… “Emily trails off and looks at Jack with a big grin on her face. His expression matches hers. “And you are gonna come with us on tour!” Jack practically yells. Your eyes widen and you don’t know what to say. You look at Emily and her expression shows that she knows what you are thinking. This could not get any better. “So after your graduation we are going on a tour in the UK and since Travis has some stuff to do in those two months we need an new assistant merch manager” Matt says gesturing at Emily “and since Adam will not be joining us, but another band by that time, so I thought that you could be our new photographer” he says turning to you.

A thousand things are going through your mind, but all of them are positive. You thank Matt and Jack and pull Emily to the front of the bus again to talk to her. You still don’t know what to say, so she just gives you a tight hug. “Honey, your dream is gonna come true. You are going to be a real touring photographer. And I’m gonna be by your side through all of it” she whispers in your ear.

At the terminal to the ferries you have to say goodbye to the guys. And even though you don’t want to you also can’t wait to get home to get some sleep. You hug each of the guys, but when you come to Jack everything just seems to get really sad. You look at his face and you feel like someone just punched you in the gut. It’s not pleasant, but at the same time you don’t want the feeling to go away. You are very confused about it. Jack pulls you in to a tight hug, but before he lets you go he whispers in your ear, something you did not expect to hear. “Damn!” he whispers and you feel his hands grip you in a way that is more than friendly. The feeling in your gut is replaced by butterflies, maybe even birds. He kisses you on your cheek and winks at you before turning around and leaving you behind. Your eyes are locked on him as he is leaving and as soon as he is out of sight you turn to see Emily and Zack releasing each other from a warm embrace.

You go home

(Emily's goodbye)

You drink

It has been a long time since you last took a clean shot of vodka, and you soon remembered why, that shit is nasty as hell. You can feel the burning sensation down your throat, and even though that might be a pleasant feeling it is overshadowed by the awful taste that is still lingering on your tongue. You must have made a horrible face because Jack and Alex are laughing at you. “Your turn Emily” Jack says and you quickly hand the bottle to her when you realize that she is also giggling at you. She takes a sip and not a single expression is shown on her face. How does she do that? You think. “Bravo” Alex says and a small round of applause is heard. “Guess you are used to swallowing” you joke and everybody stares at you including Emily. She doesn’t look mad, just surprised. Why would you say that to her? You think and mentally hit yourself on the head. Some music is cranked up and soon that little incident is forgotten.

The night goes by in a blur, but you do catch up on some things. Søren from New Politics talks to you, and he says that it is nice talking to the Danish fans. You are sent out to find Matt and Vinny, who hasn’t yet joined the party and you all have to move the party to the nearby hotel because the venue has to close.

That is about all of what you can remember when you wake up the next morning. You feel a bit nauseous and your back hurts. You realize that you are on the floor lying next to Jack. He is drooling and he has his leg swung over you, so you can’t move. You hear a snoring in the distance and look up to see Zack and Emily on a couch in the other end of the room. Zack is snoring loudly, but Emily is sleeping – or so you’d think. She soon lifts her head and you realize that she is just lying there soaking in every moment. You have a moment of eye contact and you know what she is thinking; how could this happen? You are thinking the same thing and are thanking every God there is to thank; the night before had gone above all expectations. You find your phone beside you and you decide to check it. You check for messages and have a mini heart attack when you realize that you don’t know if you had written home. You check it and your heart beat fall to a normal speed again – you had told your parents where you were.

Jack moves and you see this as your opportunity to get up. Your back makes noises when you stretch and you can’t remember the last time you were in so much pain. Your head hurts and you feel like throwing up. You find a chair lying down and take it to the kitchen island in the hotel room’s kitchen. Emily sits beside you with you even noticing her. “Are you okay, honey?” she asks concerned and you jump at the surprise she gave you. You point to your head and growl. You hear her laugh and you realize that she is getting up and fixes you a glass of water. It is much appreciated even though you secretly hate her for never getting hangovers. That girl gets everything she wants in life and she does it with a smile. That is what you think, but at the same time you can’t stop loving her. She has been your best friend since kindergarten and you would never trade her for anything in the world.

She starts cleaning the hotel room, collecting all the cans and bottle lying around and gathering them on the kitchen island. You can still smell the faint stench of the remaining alcohol and it makes you want to vomit, but again Emily comes to your rescue when she opens a window. You walk towards it with closed eyes because of the bright light, but when you inhale the fresh air you feel much better again. You stand by the window recovering while she keeps cleaning.

The room is almost clean when the guys wake up. At first it is Matt, who has been sleeping in the bed with Alex and David. He sees what Emily has done and thanks her and then proceeds to wake up the rest of the guys. Emily wakes up Zack and you think that that is how she wants it. You see her sit on her knees in front of his head and gently shake him awake. You can’t see his body from where you are standing because of the sofa’s back, but you see him sitting up with a smile on his face. He looks very beaten up and he looks around like he is missing something. You see him bend down again and put on his cap. Emily giggles and smiles at him. You decide to go wake Jack up because Matt does not have any luck with that. You do what Emily just did to Zack, thinking that it would work, but it doesn't. You decide to whisper to him instead and this makes him stir, but not wake up. You speak louder and louder until he opens his eyes. You smile at him, but he looks confused. “What?” he asks groggily. “Time to wake up, asshole” Matt shouts at him from behind and the others laugh. “Sorry, but he’s right” you say helping him up from the floor.

“Damn. That must have been a lame party” Jack says looking around searching for the mess that would probably have been there if it wasn’t for your best friend. “No, I just cleaned up” Emily says lightly from the couch. “Zack, we need her. Even you date her, or I do” Alex says from the other side of the room. You look over at Emily and she is blushing bright red. Usually she is not that easily embarrassed, so you feel really sorry for her – especially because you know how she feels about Zack.

When everyone is up and the worst hangovers are gone the guys are on their way to the ferries. They are to sail to France for their next show. Before you leave the hotel room Matt asks you if you and Emily want to say goodbye at the terminal since you now are so good friends with everyone, but before you can answer you are friendly reminded by Emily that you have a group assignment to finish with some of the girls from your class and they expect you to be there.

You go the the ferries?

You go home to study?

In that moment Adam walks in

The door opens and in comes a familiar face. You can’t miss that bald head. It’s Adam of course and he has his big ass mother fucker camera with him. You look at it and almost get some inappropriate thoughts. “Hey girls, glad you could wait for me, I was out meeting some fans” he says smiling. “That’s fine, what’s up?” Emily says all chilled out. “I just wanted to talk to you guys, you know photographer to photographer and model” he nods at each of us when saying this. It’s weird having a professional photographer call you just the same thing. It makes you very happy and excited to hear it come from him. “You wanna sit?” he asks gesturing to the sofa. You all three sit down and Adam starts to talk as if he had known you for a very long time. “What type of camera do you use? Do you usually do motion pictures? Was it a set up?” he asks all sorts of questions and sometimes you have a hard time following. “Have you been modeling for a long time?” he then asks Emily. Phew… That gives you a small break to catch up again. “Uh… well no. I’m not really a model. I didn’t even know that she took that picture of me. I was just dancing and enjoying myself. It was at a high school party” Emily says with a cute smile to her face, how could she be that relaxed? After talking a while the door opens again and it’s the band.

“Hey dude. Stealing our ladies?” Jack asks all gangster like. You giggle at that. “Yes I am” Adam answers very bluntly. “But we saw them first” Alex says getting in on the joke. “Actually no you didn’t. Wasn’t it Adam who invited us back stage?” Emily buds in looking like she just won an argument. “That is true, thank you Emily” Adam says. Zack comes in and sit next to Emily again. Did he like her or was that something you just imagined?

You keep talking and Adam gets your phone number. He wants to collaborate with you some day. You are quick to give it to him, inside thanking Emily for making you enter that competition. He even lets you take some photos now of you and the guys just chilling in the dressing room.

About fifteen minutes later three guys come in. It is warp up band New Politics. They are Danish, but it was the first time you saw them live, and they were amazing. “Hey guys, look what we got” the lead singer David holds up two bottles of vodka and a cheer spreads through the room. “Fire up those bastards!” Alex yells motioning for the guys to open the bottles everyone takes a sip and a bottle is handed to you and Emily. You look at each other, not knowing whether or not you should take one. If you do, you can’t bring the car home, which sucks because there are no trains at this time of night, and if you don’t you would have just passed out on partying with your favorite band.

You drink?

You pass?

Emily's experience

(Emily’s experience)

I still can’t believe that Adam actually recognized me, and it makes me wonder just how big this campaign is. I don’t think twice about it because as soon as the door to the dressing room opens and I see the guys in there my heart stops. I literally cannot feel it beating anymore. I see Zack sitting on a couch with a guitar in hand. It’s so cute that he after just doing an entire concert still feels like playing. We are introduced to the guys, and I sit next to him on the couch. Jack and Alex are being loud, but that doesn’t surprise me.

When Rian steps out of the shower and Alex has left the room I get a little one on one talk with Zack. He asks me how old Laura and I are. “We’re both 19” I tell him. “Cool, do you play any instruments?” he says gesturing to his guitar. I tell him no, but that Laura plays a bit Ukulele. He somehow finds this funny. “Why’s that funny?” I ask. And he stops giggling. “It’s not, I’m sorry.” “Don’t be.”

“So what do you do?” he asks. “We are both in High School. It’s our senior year and we don’t really have anything specific planned after summer” I tell him. Laura and I had discussed traveling, but we hadn’t really agreed on anything, mostly because we don’t have the money for it. “Yeah, what would you like to do, if you could just choose? No limits” he puts his guitar down and faces me. He actually sounds interested in what I have to say. My stomach makes a turn when he catches my eye. “If I could choose – and with no limits – then I want to travel the world. I’ve always wanted to go different places and experience different cultures, you know?” I say. I hope I don’t come off stupid, when I say it – I am pretty nervous. “Yeah, I do. I mean, I always wanted to just get the hell out of Baltimore, when I grew up, and well, it seems like I did pretty good” he says smiling. “Have you always wanted to be in a band?” I ask. “Yes! My whole life” he says. I see that Laura is talking to Jack and Rian is on his phone.

“Hey Rian, stop being anti-social and come talk to the girls. Cassie can wait” Jack says taking Rian’s phone. “I think it’s cute” Laura says “how long have you been together?” she asks. After that Rian is engaged in the conversation.

Next one in the showers is Jack. He makes a comment on his stinky butt before exiting the room. Laura seems to think this is terribly funny, and can’t help but laugh. “It’s okay, you don’t have to pretend he’s funny” Alex says as a joke. At last it is Zack who takes a shower. When he leaves I have to talk to the others – not that I mind, it’s just that Zack and I had been talking this whole time, just one on one and I almost hadn’t paid any attention to Laura Alex Jack or Rian.

When Zack reenters his hair is a bit damp and he’s not wearing a shirt again. I won’t show it, but every fiber in my body jumps at the sight. Laura is looking as well, she can see why he is my sweet spot. He quickly gets a shirt from a bag and when it’s put on Matt comes in to say that it’s time for autographs. “If you stay, we can talk afterwards” Zack tells me right before he leaves. I don’t get a chance to answer, but I’ll be there, that’s for sure.

Laura and I are left in the room alone. We look at each other and run towards each other while doing a silent squeal together.

Back to Laura's point of view