A Drama Provider

“Delly! It’s time to wake up!” I woke up with Jack on top of me and the whole bunk shaking. I had slept like a normal person for two reasons. One, chasing Jack around a theme park was exhausting, and two, we didn’t get back to the bus and into bunks until around four this morning.

“Mother fucker, this is the most I’ve slept and the hardest I’ve slept in fucking three years; why the hell are you waking me up?” I groaned and opened my eyes just the tiniest bit, hoping to keep the sunlight out. It was still bright.

“Alex can’t sing and you’re his replacement; plus we have to go on stage in like twenty minutes.” It took a few seconds for his words to cut through my grogginess. I sat straight up with adrenaline pumping through my veins way to fast as I knocked Jack out of the bunk. “Ouch, no need to push.” He grumbled and pretended to brush the invisible dirt off his butt before going back to the front of the bus.

“Hold on, dirtbag said what while I was asleep?” I managed to stumble out into the main area to find all five boys awake and staring at me, plus one stranger of the male species.

“Dell, nice to see you’re awake.” Matt smiled sarcastically and I rolled my eyes. “Cutting it a bit close to set time though, aren’t we?”

“Uh, set time?” I repeated and felt the dread start to kick in with the adrenaline.

“Yeah, see Alex here,” Matt gestured to the groggy looking Alex who had his eyes half closed and pain written across his forehead, “has stressed his voice too much yesterday and now, he officially sounds like shit.”

“No, that can’t happen.” I laughed; certainly this had to be some joke. “Alex has to sing.” I gazed at him worriedly and he just gave me a sympathetic smile.

“Alex can’t sing, so you will.” Jack grinned from ear to ear as he got behind me and started to push me off the bus. “And now we’ve got to boogy on down to the Hurley stage.” I felt numb as Jack continued to push me toward wherever we were going. My heart was pounding and my stomach was churning. It wasn’t until we were standing beside the stage and Jack was throwing his guitar strap over his head that I had enough control over my body to scan my clothes.

“Jack!” I yelled and horror replaced my stage fright while my cheeks burned. All three boys’ heads turned toward me, concerned expressions on them. “I can’t go out there like this!” I pointed at my body and my eyes widened as Jack just smirked.

“Course you can; you look hot and sexy!” Jack being Jack, wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. Rian shook his head and went back to throwing his drumsticks in the air and then catching them before they hit the ground.

“I’m in my pajamas and I haven’t even brushed my hair!” I shouted, trying to get him to notice how bad a situation we were in.

“Your hair looks great, like it always does, and your pajamas are pretty hot.” Zack cut in while Jack smirked triumphantly and a tech signaled us to go.

“You are not helping my case.” I glared at him as he shrugged and hopped up the steps to the stage. I could feel the vomit in my throat again, and I couldn’t move. Jack, as if reading my mind, grabbed my wrist and pulled me along with him up on the stage, only letting go of me so he could grab his own microphone.

“All of you hot ladies, and sexy guys, we have a very special surprise for you today on the Warped tour, don’t we Zack?” Jack yelled into his microphone and the crowd cheered. I swallowed hard as I slowly walked toward the microphone in the middle where Alex should have been.

“We sure do, you see, Alex got himself sick yesterday and lost his voice this morning so he won’t be singing for us.” I watched as Zack talked into his microphone and adjusted his base at the same time.

“Instead, we have this beautiful lady here to sing for us, and her name is Adele.” Jack grinned and pointed at me while the crowd clapped a little. “Now, we had to pull her out of the bus to get her here on stage with us fellas, so I need you guys to scream your lungs out for her! Can you do that?” The crowd screamed again and I couldn’t help but let a smile curve my lips upward. “That’s good, that’s good. Now!” Jack yelled again and I saw him smirk as he looked at me from the corner of his eye. “How many of you guys think Delly here is looking gorgeously sexy this afternoon?” My cheeks were burning again from embarrassment as all the males in the crowd howled and whistled.

“Alright, alright!” I hardly noticed the effort it took to reach the microphone as I talked into it. “Enough of your rambling Jackaroo, let’s play these folks a song.” I smiled over at Jack, trying to keep my vision off the crowd since that was what kept making me nervous.

“As you wish my dear,” Jack blew me a kiss before leaning toward his mic again, “this one’s called The Beach!” The crowd yelled as the boys started the song and I gripped the microphone in my hands tight.

The words slipped from my mouth with such ease that it shocked me through and through. I kept my eyes from the crowd for the most part, but had fun jumping around and dancing as I sang and joked with them. It was fun.

“We love you guys!” Jack yelled into his microphone and waved to the crowd. I watched him confused as he drifted to the side of the stage and started taking off his guitar. He hadn’t mentioned anything about a last song, but I followed him and the guys none the less to the side of the stage. “Oh, no missy; you’ve got one more to sing.” Jack pushed me back up on the stage.

“What are you talking about?” I hissed and stared at him baffled before I heard the crowd scream behind me. I quickly jolted up and spun on my heel to face the ground, and to find that they weren’t screaming for me. As the boys had been exiting the stage on the left, Mr. Gaskarth had entered it on the right with a pretty acoustic guitar strapped to him. I quirked an eyebrow at him as a tech quickly pulled two stools out for him and I to sit on and then handed me my mic. “Alex, what are we doing?” I whispered, making sure the mic was far from my mouth. Alex just smiled and glanced down at the guitar as he started to play a familiar tune. I couldn’t help but smile as I sang Jasey Rae with Alex beside me, while he arched an eyebrow at me when I didn’t put my own name it for the first chorus. I smiled wider and sang Delly the second time while he grinned like a maniac. After the song ended, Alex took my hand and we bowed before quickly exiting the stage.

“That was amazing!” Jack yelled and picked me up in a hug “The crowd loved you!”

“I loved the crowd!” I shouted back and threw myself at Zack’s open arms after Jack put me down.

“Now aren’t you glad we pulled you out of bed and dragged you down here in your pj’s?” Zack laughed and squeezed me, making it practically impossible to breath.

“Oh my god, I’m in my pj’s!” My eyes widened as I looked down at the skimpy shorts and my knee high socks.

“You look fine.” Rian laughed as he pulled me into a side hug. “Just be careful where you walk since you don’t have any shoes; nice socks by the way.”

“Thank you very much.” I grinned and pointed my left foot in the air, catching all four books admiring my leg. “Um, yeah, since the sets over and all, I’m gonna head back to the bus and catch some more sleep since someone kept me out till four this morning.” I eyed Jack while he just grinned goofily at me.

“Great; well, we’ve got to get to the merch booth for our signing so we’ll see you later.” Jack was completely unphased from my accusation, resulting in me rolling my eyes. Before I could run off, I was swept off my feet and into the arms of a very smug looking Alex. “Oh, and Alex is going to carry you back to the bus since a)you don’t have shoes and b)he has to skip the signing since he needs as must rest as he can get for his voice.”

“I can’t decide whether to yell until you put me down or just let you carry me.” I mused to Alex while I wrapped my arms around his neck and the rest of the boys walked off after waving. Alex winked at me and I shrugged. “Alright, carry on my stead.” I giggled as he nodded and started for the bus. We got a few odd stares, but being around the All Time Low boys, I was starting to get used to odd stares. “So your plans for the day are slacking and sleeping around?” Alex nodded again with a sly smirk that made it quite obvious that he had a little something else up his sleeve. “Well, I think I might just join you.” I leaned my head against his chest, but not before I noticed that smirk turn into a blissful smile. Maybe me in bed with him was what he had up his sleeve after all. “Screaming at Disney World yesterday did your sickness no good, huh?” I smiled when I felt him nodding. It was so weird not hearing his voice, but kind of cute that all he could do was nod or shake his head. “I feel like a bride.” I muttered and crossed my ankles, thinking and sorta hoping nobody had heard me. Alex responded by kissing the top of my head. I groaned on the inside and stayed quiet the rest of the way to the bus.

Alex set me down on my feet once we reached the bus so that he could open the door, letting me enter first like a true gentleman. I grinned and went in first, heading straight for Alex’s bunk. Before I made it there, however, my phone starting ringing from the back of the bus. I groaned but kept walking, a little bit of jealousy rising in me as Alex slumped into his bunk.

“Yello?” I answered without looking at the caller I.D. or recognizing who it was from the ringtone.

“Dell, Darling, I just heard the good news.” Caleb sounded like he was adorning that Cheshire cat smile of his.

“Good news?” I let my eyes close and sat on the sofa. Bouncing around on stage had made me more exhausted than I was this morning.

“You and Kyle are officially over and done with for good.” He said it like it was the happiest news he’d received all his life. I scrunched my eyebrows with astonishment as I leaned my head back.

“Where did you hear that from?” I decided to ignore his delight and instead tackle my other curiosity.

“Kyle’s been mumbling about it being over for good.” His tone seemed to take a notch down on the happy scale. “You telling me it isn’t?” He asked nervously.

I was so tired of being between those boys; it was slowly driving me crazy. I sighed since I couldn’t really answer with words, not because I didn’t know the answer, but I didn’t want to say the words out loud, let alone to Caleb.

“Great, so I’ll be seeing you tonight for another secret date, right?” He asked with his hopes up high.

“Caleb,” I groaned into the phone.

“I’ll take that as a yes!” He chirped, cheery once again. “I know exactly where we’re going to go to! I found this awesome place while on my morning walk this, well, morning.” I felt my lips twitch upward and scolded myself. Just because Caleb had his moment of being adorable and cheesy did not mean I would date him. “Now are we going in pajama attire again tonight, or will we show up looking nice together?” I rolled my eyes and sighed again.

“I can dress up.” I muttered. I did not want to go on another date with Caleb, but I also know that fighting with him will result in nothing but what he wants anyway.

“Great; I’ll pick you up at your bus again around eleven thirty, kay?” I could hear a door slamming on his line and my heart started to beat faster as I saw him entering his bus in my head.

“Okay,” I told him meekly and listened harder, straining to hear voices in the background.

“Alright, bye love.” Caleb quickly hung up without a response from me. I was guessing that was because Kyle was on the bus with him. My stomach turned.

“Alex!” I whined as I threw my phone down and stumbled to the bunks. Alex had his head propped up on the farthest side of the pillow and he held the blanket up beside him, gesturing for me to climb in with him. I smiled at him while his expression turned worried. “I have another date with Caleb.” I huffed as I slid in beside him.

“Why?” My eyes widened as his voice cracked and came out rough and scratchy. I hadn’t thought about how awful he must be feeling, and suddenly Caleb and Kyle were the furthest thing from my mind.

“Oh my, Alex you sound awful! Let me get you some medicine and something to drink, are you hungry?” I asked him worriedly as I quickly slipped back out of the bunk, placing my hand on his forehead. Alex grinned lopsided at me and shook his head. “Alright, I’ll be right back sweetie.” I smoothed his hair down before I practically ran to the front kitchen area. I rummaged through cupboards and draws before sighing and returning to Alex empty handed. “I can’t believe you guys don’t have a single bottle of medicine, be it for fevers, pain, or diarrhea; and there’s nothing to sooth your throat either.” Alex was grinning coyly now. “You knew there wasn’t anything out there, didn’t you?” He nodded and pulled the blanket back again. I rolled my eyes but got in beside him anyway. “I’ll nap with you for a few, but then I’m going to the store to pick up a few necessities.” I mumbled but I don’t think he was listening as he wrapped his arms around me, snuggling his face into my neck. Two minutes later his breathing was deep and steady, a slight snoring sound coming from him. It made me smile. I closed my eyes again, letting the exhaustion take over as I nodded off with Alex.