A Drama Provider

Seven a.m. and not a single thing stirs on All Time Low’s bus. It was unnervingly quiet and I couldn’t help but fidget on the couch. I’d already woke Alex up to give him his meds, though they didn’t seem to be helping him at all except for the fever reducer, and he’d already gone back to sleep. I sighed and started to drum my fingers on the couch. A simple knock on the door calmed my anxious behavior as a serene film fell over me. I stood up and checked my back pocket for my phone before opening the door.

“Good morning Dell,” Jonathan smiled brightly from the bottom of the stairs.

“Oh my god!” I groaned and flung myself into his arms. “I miss cheery faces early in the morning!” Jonathan chuckled and squeezed me. “Everybody in there is passed out.”

“It can’t be that bad. I’m sure they’ll be up by the time we’re back,” Jonathan pulled back and let his arm rest around my shoulders.

“Matt might, and then he’ll kick Delic awake, but the other four don’t wake up till about twenty minutes before they have to be on stage.” I let my arm wrap around his waist as we walked across the ghost town parking lot.

“Right, and we’re so much better than that,” Jonathan rolled his eyes while I giggled at his sarcasm.

“True,” I nodded and bit my bottom lip to keep from smiling to wide. “So where we going to eat?” I tried casually to change the subject, and watched as the corners of his mouth turned up too.

“I’d say the first place we find that’s open.” Jonathan pulled me in closer. “So yesterday I stopped by the Hurley stage and found this pretty little girl singing her heart out.”

“Oh yeah?” I tilted my head back with curiosity and noticed the twinkle in his eye. The twinkle that said he thought something was funny.

“Yep; she was pretty hot too. If only I can remember the band she was singing for,” Jonathan rubbed his chin like he was thinking hard. “All Time something,” he trailed off and my cheeks immediately started to burn.

“You mean me,” I muttered and glanced at him.

“Sure do,” he nodded and chuckled. “After all those times I tried dragging you onto stage with me and you wouldn’t budge. I’ve just got to know what the special trick is that those guys did to get you to be up there.”

“Alex is almost deathly sick and Jack ambushed me while I was still asleep and practically pushed me up onto that stage in my pajamas.” I abbreviated the original story and giggled as I remembered it.

“You didn’t look like you were in your pajamas yesterday, so I’ll take that to mean that you’ve been onstage more than once.” Jonathan’s arm slipped from my shoulders to my waist.

“Yeah, well, the stage is pretty addicting I guess.” I let my arm fall from his waist and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear.

“Told ya so,” Jonathan sang and smirked.

“Stop gloating dork,” I leaned into his side, slightly pushing the two of us off the sidewalk and into the street.

“Look at this, you’re gonna get us killed,” Jonathan cried and pushed us back onto the sidewalk.

“Stop being a baby,” I rolled my eyes and spied a cute little Mom and Pop’s breakfast bar. “I got shoved in front of a car yesterday evening.”

“Let me guess, the crazy All Time Low guys again?” Jonathan didn’t seem too enthused about the statement, but I nodded as I opened the door to the Mom and Pop’s place.

“Yep; crazy describes them pretty well.” I watched as his eyes dimmed a bit as I spoke so fondly about the boys.

We took two stools at the counter and Jonathan ordered for the two of us. I watched as the older waitress smiled at the two of us and then left to get our drinks.

“How’d you know I wanted pancakes?” I couldn’t keep the question to myself any longer.

“Adele, I’ve known you for what, four years? I know you hate eggs and don’t like to eat them unless there’s nothing else, and of course your love for chocolate chip pancakes is pretty much noticeable to everyone.” He grinned toward the end while I stared at him in amazement.

“You really pay attention to me, eh?” I leaned my elbow on the table and my chin in my hand. The waitress came and set two glasses of orange juice in front of both of us.

“I told you, I’ve been in love with you for a very long time.” Jonathan smiled and stared down at his glass, stealing glances at me from the corner of his eye.

“How long is exactly a very long time?” I questioned curiously, watching as he seemed to get more fidgety.

“Remember that night we met, when Jeff almost killed you and we spent the whole night in Kyle’s old tree house?” He still stared at the glass, but the glances were less frequent now.

“Course,” I grinned at the memory. “I used to be so bitter and bitchy.”

“Yeah, well, I’d say about the second I had my arms around you was when I started falling,” I picked up on the slight blush that was crossing his cheeks. It was adorable, but the thought of pointing it out quickly left my mind as Jonathan looked up from his glass and locked eyes with me. “And I never quite stopped.”

“Oh that is so a cheesy line,” I playfully pushed his shoulder and brought my gaze down to my own drink. “But it sounds nice.” I added and felt my own cheeks burning up again.

“I have to agree with you, it was extremely cheesy. But it’s hard to keep my thoughts straight when I’m around you,” He smiled now, rolling his beautiful blue eyes. “Cheesy again.”

“You seem to keep your thoughts straight fairly well,” I commented. We were silent for the few minutes it took the waitress to place our plates in front of us.

“I have had lots of practice in ignoring the effect you have on me,” Jonathan started the conversation up as soon as she’d left. “In case you don’t remember, those first few weeks of getting to know you, I was a complete wreck.”

“I remember thinking you were weird,” I agreed and then laughed at his mock hurt expression. “But I mean you seemed pretty fine to me.”

“I was able to pull off my more stunned moments, but god, it hurt to watch you kiss Kyle every day.” Jonathan stared off into space as it got quiet between the two of us. We were both apparently deep in our thoughts.

“So why didn’t you ever make a move, before Kyle I mean,” I took a small bit of my pancakes, finding that I wasn’t so hungry anymore.

“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “It took a while to even realize I was crazy for you the way I was. At first I was convincing myself that it was just a brotherly love I had for you, but of course even I had to throw that out the window when I started to imagine kissing you. But by that time I was worried about ruining our friendship, and while I was being torn between the two alternatives, Kyle moved in before me.” He shrugged again, confusing me.

“You say it like it didn’t upset you,” I felt my eyebrows scrunch together as I felt a bit of hurt. Hadn’t he wanted to fight for me? I know the other three boys do. Then I mentally smacked my forehead for comparing Jonathan to Alex and Alex to Kyle and Kyle to Caleb.

“You’re the one who’s always going on about fate,” Jonathan smirked at me before letting the smirk fall into a sad, small smile. “I was frustrated with Kyle for a while, but then I figured that if you were happy, that should be the important part.”

“The whole sacrifice for the greater good thing, huh?” I watched while he took a bite and nodded.

“It filled me with horror to have to watch you and him be all perfect coupley and stuff,” Jonathan shook his head.

“How is he?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking the question. Jonathan set down his fork and looked up at me with sad, pleading eyes. He didn’t want me to bring this up here, or now, with him. But he’d answer me nonetheless.

“Not good,” was all he said before he picked up his fork again. It was obvious he didn’t want to talk about it, but more questions were burning on my tongue.

I stuffed the rest of my pancakes in my mouth to keep from bringing him up again while Jonathan decided to make a bit of small talk. He asked more about my stage presence, and who all I’d met on tour so far. I answered with short responses, afraid I wouldn’t be able to keep my more blazing questions down.

“So you’ve been extra quiet since I cut off the conversation about Kyle,” Jonathan’s bluntness made my eyes widen and my head snap to look at him. We were walking back to the busses now and he was staring at his shoes as we walked.

“Well,” I started, but couldn’t find anything else to say. I sighed and laced my fingers together. “I just worry about him,” I told him since there wasn’t much else in my mind.

“I think he worries about you too, sometimes.” Jonathan muttered while my eyebrows rose with such hope. “But, it’s like I said, he just needs time. With time will come forgiveness and peace between the two of you.” I nodded and let my face fall again.

“I just kinda wish time would go by a bit faster,” I mumbled the words, more to myself than to Jonathan; though I’m sure he heard them too.

“Unfortunately there is no scientific method to do so, so until someone invents it, you’re stuck with just waiting.” Jonathan stopped walking and turned toward me with a grin.

“Well maybe I’ll just have to invent one myself,” I crossed my arms over my chest and smiled. “Then I can fast forward and see how this whole thing turns out.” Jonathan shook his head and bent down to kiss me.

“Doesn’t work that way, I’m afraid,” he pulled back to see my shocked expression, giving him a wider grin. Jonathan leaned in again, to kiss my forehead this time as he tucked a piece of hair behind my ear, “good bye Adele. I’ll see you soon.” He winked and then turned, walking off like nothing happened, like kissing me was just protocol for him.

I rolled my eyes, deciding boys were uncontrollable and at times, stupid, before turning around and finding he’d walked me straight to my bus. I shook my head as I climbed the stairs, freezing at the top of them. All six boys were wide awake and all seemed to be alarmed.

“What happened?” I didn’t comprehend moving, it just happened. I was standing next to Matt with a slight layer of sweat on my palms. Worry and panic were starting to take over.

“Adele, calm down,” Matt grasped my hand and squeezed it gently while Jack did the same on my other side. “Everything’s okay, well, it’s not okay, but nobodies hurt, well,” Matt was rambling.

“Matt!” Zack interrupted, causing Matt to close his mouth. I slowly started to calm down as I took in their expressions. They weren’t overly worried, like how I was acting, they were only lightly distracted and concerned.

“Alex has lost his voice,” Matt stated briefly, probably because he didn’t want to ramble anymore. I exhaled deeply, thankful no one was seriously injured, but the relief lasted only moments.

“That means he’s getting worse.” I stated the obvious and watched as Matt nodded grimly and the other boys all stared at Alex. Alex simply rolled his eyes and mouthed words. “I’m not that good of a lip reader,” I mumbled just before his warm brown eyes locked with mine.

“He said he’s fine,” Rian said sarcastically. It was clearly meant for Alex and his silly comment. A bit of rage boiled in my chest.

“Alexander!” I growled and let go of both Jack and Matt to step closer to Alex. “If you say ‘I’m fine’ one god damn more time, I swear I’ll ship your ass home and ban you from touring until you can learn to not overwhelm yourself!” It was dead quiet after I yelled. I sighed, staring into his worried brown eyes. “I didn’t mean to be so hard, but you are not fine, Alex,” I placed my hands on the sides of his head. “You are sick and you need rest.” Alex nodded. “Now you are going to go get into your bunk and stay there for the rest of the day.” He gave me a small, crooked grin before he turned and headed for the bunk area. I sighed as I watched him go and then turned back to the boys.

“Did I mention I’m in love with you?” Matt blurted with such seriousness that I erupted into laughter.

“Uh oh guys, better turn around while Mommy and Daddy make out,” Jack teased and went to the kitchen to rummage around for food.

“I love you too Matt,” I grinned wide and stepped forward to wrap my arms around his neck. “But as we discussed, I am not ready for marriage, or even close to it.” I added while he sighed and patted my back.

“Yeah, I know.” It made me giggle again as he truly seemed to be disappointed again. “You are just perfect.”

“Well thank you for the compliment,” I pulled back and quickly gave him a kiss on his cheek. “Now, if you don’t mind me, I’ve got some mending to do with the lead singer I’m replacing.” I winked before going to the kitchen, bumping hips with Jack the whole time as I got out something for Alex to eat.