A Drama Provider

Though the All Time Low boys still loved me while I was the latest Warped Tour scandal, everybody else wasn’t so kind. Alex told me to look at it as just a way to toughen my skin a little, and I tried. It wasn’t so easy sometimes. Girls glared and spat awful remarks while boys tended to try and put their hands down my pants.

“Party queens, if you wanna be seen take a shit where you sleep and smile real wide for the pop-pop-pop-pop-paparazzi!” I sang along to my iPod as I skipped across the field, looking for All Time Low’s merch tent, the place where I spent most of my free time. Fingers griped into my shoulder and pulled out an ear bud while it spun me around. “Caleb?” I quickly pulled out my other ear bud as I saw his anger brewing in his eyes.

“Have you seen this shit?” Caleb yelled and held up the paper I’d desperately been trying to avoid. On the front cover, in big, bold letters were the words Tour Whore. I bit my bottom lip as my eyes scanned the four pictures that graced the cover. The top, left hand corner was of Kyle and I, kissing at the park. The bottom, left corner had a picture of me in Alex’s arms, cuddled up to his chest. The top, right was of Caleb and I at the bowling alley, he was standing behind me with his arms around me. And the bottom, right was Jonathan and I when we’d gone to CVS together, him holding my hand the whole way. “I take it from your expression that you knew about it.” Caleb hissed, his voice laced with such venom that it tore my eyes away from the page and to his face.

“I’m sorry,” I told him since I wasn’t so sure what else he was looking for. It wasn’t like he had the right to feel betrayed, like Kyle did, but I guess the article was as bad for the guys as it was for me.

“You’re sorry?” Caleb repeated and shook his head. “Sorry isn’t easing the tension on the god damn bus, and it sure as hell isn’t bringing back the trust Kyle things we all broke.” I’d been so caught up in things, I hadn’t truly thought about how things would go between the boys.

“He has a right not to trust you.” Anger started to swell in my own head at how harsh he was trying to make his words. “You were the one to come after me in the first place, knowing that I was still attached to Kyle.” Caleb laughed, a wicked tone added to it that made me shiver.

“Don’t turn this on me,” Caleb looked me up and down, sizing me up with his once gently green eyes. “It’s all you,” he shrugged, “and you know the new nick name suits you. Warped Tour Whore.” He sneered before stalking off like an angst ridden teenager.

I’d been called out and hung to dry worse than what he just did, but somehow Caleb’s words hurt worst. Maybe it was cause they were from him, a boy I once loved like a brother and would have given the world for. I sniffed, drying up the tears before they could fall, and put my iPod in my pocket before embarking on a new designation, one that lead me to AMP’s tent. Evan spotted me first.

“Adele, how are you doing?” He whispered, glancing over his shoulder. The poor kid must be paranoid after seeing what she does.

“As good as can be expected. Where is she?” I asked, not willing to let him distract me from my goal. Evan hung his head and slightly nodded toward the back of the tent where his board and a small TV were set up. The television blocked my view of her until I stood directly in front of it. “Why’d you do it?” Her pretty little face raised and then her eyes narrowed.

“Don’t take it personal honey. You’re just hot news, take it as a compliment,” Rachel shrugged and then lowered her gaze toward her work. Apparently I wasn’t important.

“You know damn well it was personal.” I spoke through clenched teeth and was surprised at my own cursing. Usually I could keep a bit of control on my language when I was angry.

“Alright, so I was jealous of your ‘perfect’ life style, so I decided to dig deeper till I found something , so I let everyone know what you really are, so what?” Rachel smiled smugly at me. “What are you going to do about it?” She tilted her head to the side, “that’s right. You’ll do nothing because,” Rachel leaned forward and put her hand to her mouth, like she was telling some big secret as she whispered, “I won.” Then she sat back in her seat and giggled as she picked up a steaming Starbucks cup.

The rage filled me, even more so, and took control of my actions. I didn’t even notice what I was doing until her scream filled my ears. I’d reached over and pushed her hand with the cup in it, causing the hot, caramel colored liquid to cover the front of her. “You’re a bitch,” I smiled and turned, waving at a very smiley Evan on my way out.

I abandoned my mission to the merch tent since socializing wasn’t something I was up to anymore. Instead, I headed back to the bus, my mood completely shot for the rest of the day. Every step was hard to take as I watched the people I passed take second glances at me.

“Jacky!” I whined as I stepped on the bus. Jack was the only one I saw in the front area, and the sight made me erupt into giggles that left me on the ground.

“What’s so funny?” Jack asked with such innocence and seriousness that it made me laugh harder.

“You’re eating a cup of noodles on the couch in your underwear,” I finally stifled my laughter enough to answer him. He just shrugged. “Okay, I thank you oh so much for changing my entire outlook on the day.” I smiled brightly as I went to get a drink.

“No problem,” Jack nodded and grinned. “Why were you upset in the first place?”

“Rachel,” I muttered, not feeling like talking about it since there was still a chance it could ruin my happy mood again. “Where is everybody?” I questioned as I raised a glass of Sprite to my lips. The bus was too quiet, even if Jack was apparently oddly clam today.

“I don’t know, what am I, their keeper?” Jack scoffed and clicked the television on. I rolled my eyes and headed for the back of the bus, still finding the rest of the bus empty.

“This is way too odd,” I mumbled and jumped when my phone vibrated in my pocket. “Yello?”

“Well it’s about time you answer the damn phone,” Jonathan’s smooth voice played in my ear. It was a bit annoyed, but overall it was cheerful. “You never showed up for lunch,” here his voice lost a bit of his cheerfulness and took on a bit of glum.

“I know,” I tip toed to the back and sat down on the seat. “I kind of figured you wouldn’t want to hear from me.” I sighed and stared out the back window.

“Now why on earth wouldn’t I want to hear your beautiful voice and see your gorgeous face? I did, after all, invite you to lunch.” Jonathan chuckled a little.

“That was before,” I trailed off, not quite sure what to call my big fiasco anymore.

“Now didn’t we decide that there is no forgiving needed between us?” Jonathan chuckled again and then breathed heavy into the phone. “Besides, I kind of already knew about everything, except Gaskarth. That was a bit of a surprise.”

My eyes widened. “Okay I have two questions, first off, how exactly do you ‘kind of already’ know everything?” I asked worriedly, getting overly anxious.

“Well, after all hell broke loose around here, Mark spilled to me.” Jonathan admitted and my mouth dropped open. “He didn’t want me thinking anything wrong about you.”

“Alright, I’ll let that one slip.” I bit my bottom lip as I watched a small group of boys that I didn’t recognize, huddle close to the bus. “But my second question was what exactly did the, uh, article say about Alex and me?” I’d tried so hard to avoid the paper, but I guess I should have at least read it once to see what the accusations were.

“Pretty much the same that it said about Caleb and me,” Jonathan paused, “you were shamelessly screwing the three of us behind your beloved boyfriend’s back.” My stomach turned.

“You know it wasn’t like that.” I closed my eyes and rested my head against the glass.

“Well, I know it wasn’t for me, but I can’t really speak for the other two.”

“Jonathan, you know me better than anybody in this damn world. There’s absolutely nothing between Alex and I, and Caleb,” I hesitated. There were never the right words to describe Caleb.

“Was Caleb, I know. The douche is trying to throw all the blame on you now. It’s crawling under my skin, and of course Kyle’s eating up everything he says.” My heart stuttered. “He’ll come to his senses eventually, but for the moment it’s probably best you steer clear of him.”

“You really think he’ll understand?” I sighed and started to hit my forehead against the glass.

“I think Kyle knows you better than this, just like I do, and in time he’ll see that.”

“Or he’ll never understand and I’ll end up losing one of the best friends I’ve ever had.” My voice cracked towards the end. Whether I liked to admit it or not, Kyle and I had become quite close during our relationship and I would certainly miss that closeness.

“Dell, hun, don’t start crying. If you do, I’m going to have to come and find you and make you stop crying.” Jonathan threatened and a slight smile spread on my lips. “ Everything is going to be just fine, I promise.”

“Okay, let’s just say I believe you and change the subject.” I let the smile widen while I listened to his laugh.

“So, breakfast tomorrow?” I giggled at how lightly he was able to change the subject.

“Breakfast sounds great.” I opened my eyes and saw the group of boys had vanished.

“Sweet, I shall meet you around seven at All Time Low’s bus?”

“I’ll be here.”

“Alright, I’ll see you then Dell. I love you.” I knew he meant those words with more passion than was needed. It reminded me of the night Alex had told me the same words, but I just couldn’t say them back with the same meaning.

“I love you too, Jonathan.” I whispered into the phone before clicking it off. I held the phone to my chest as I thought and stared out the window. I didn’t mean those words as strongly as Jonathan had. I’d meant them just like I always had, as best friends. “What am I going to do with myself?” I muttered to no one in specific.

“What are you doing back here by yourself, Delly?” Zack grinned and sat down beside me.

“Being a loner,” I smiled brightly at him while he rolled his eyes.

“Well, if you’re done being a loner and all, Delicious called and wants to know what happened to you and his lunch.” Zack rummaged around on the ground, probably looking for the weights that Jack and I had hid yesterday.

“Oh, I forgot that was the reason I woke up today,” I lightly smacked my forehead with my palm. “I need to take care of your uncle and baby spoon feed him.”

“I’m just relaying the message.” Zack held his hands in defense, but kept his eyes on the ground, still scanning for the misplaced weights.

“I guess I’ll be on my way then,” I jumped up and went to leave, stopping at the door way. “You want me to bring anything back?”

“Nothing greasy and gross,” I giggled at his concerned expression.

“They’re in Jack’s bunk,” I commented and quickly ran to the front before he could ask any questions about how they’d got there. “Okay, so nobody cares that Jack is still eating on the couch in his whitey tidies?” I raised my eyebrows at Jack while he pretended to pay no attention to me.

“We stopped caring about five years ago.” Matt spoke without changing his attention from the laptop that sat in front of him at the kitchen booth.

“Strange, strange boys,” I muttered and looked around for my shoes. “So anybody want to come get lunch for Delicious with me?” I asked eagerly, and smiled bright when Alex raised his hand from beside Jack. “Alright love,” I grabbed his hand and pulled him up from the couch, “let’s get going.”

“Hey! Can you pick me up a sub while you’re out?” Matt raised his eyes as he practically begged with them.

“Course dear,” I giggled and locked arms with Alex. “I’ll be back ‘round three.”