The Words to Define These Feelings

Chapter 30

“Turn out the lights, turn on the radio,” Caleb sang, making funny faces as he warmed up his voice for the final show of the tour tonight. I squeezed his hand contentedly and shut my eyes as he continued to sing, “And how can we fight when I'm too busy loving you?”

I realized that Caleb had stopped singing and was now looking at me.

“Hi,” I smiled.

“Hi,” he replied before leaning in to kiss me.

“I'm gonna miss you,” I made a pouty face as he wrapped his arms around me.

“Yeah,” He said, “You will miss me,” He laughed as I turned to give him an offended look.

“I know, I'm being a jerk,” He whispered in my ear, “But how can we fight when I'm too busy loving you?”

“You did not just recite your own lyrics to me,” I looked at him, “You didn't.”

“And what if I did?” He asked.

“Then you're the biggest loser I know,” I laughed and he looked offended.

“At least I'm your loser,” He answered.

“Yes, I do kind of like that.” I smiled and kissed him again, resting our heads together, “I can't believe tour is really about to end,” I whispered.

“I know, I feel like it's ending just as we finally figured stuff out,” He answered, rubbing my back and sending shivers down my spine.

“Of course, that's the way the world works,” I scoffed.

“Whatever. It's not like we can't handle a little distance,” He said, and I smiled into his shoulder. I really couldn't remember the last time I had been so inexplicably happy.

“Hey loverboy, we go on in 45,” Kent yelled as he passed the doorway of the room we were sitting in, and Caleb placed a kiss on my head before untangling himself from me.

“Looks like I have to get ready,” He said, and I nodded.

“And I should be documenting some of this,” I agreed, standing up and stretching, “I mean, I've heard some pretty good tour pranks are going down during your set.”

“What? Really? Like what?” Caleb's head whipped back around to look at me.

“I'm not telling you, it'll ruin the fun,” I smiled, patting his shoulder and he groaned as I slipped past him through the door. I made my way down to the photo pit, slipping past a security guard to where Phoebe was standing, adjusting her camera while she waited for The Maine to get set up to play. We had agreed to switch off taking pictures of the openers so that we could spend time with Caleb or Kyle, respectively.

“There you are,” She said, handing me her camera, “You got this?”

“Yeah, go see Kyle,” I nodded, and she blushed slightly at the mention of his name. She'd been acting slightly embarrassed every time I brought him up since last night- something must have happened. I made a mental note to question her about that later as she slinked off backstage and the lights went down to signal the beginning of The Maine's set. I began to snap pictures as John Ohh strutted his stuff at the brink of the stage. Halfway through “I Must Be Dreaming,” a bunch of guys from A Rocket To The Moon and We The Kings came running out in various forms of ridiculous dress and began dancing around madly. I laughed as Pat's drum kit got carried offstage piece by piece and snapped some pictures. I would miss more about this tour than just Caleb, that was for sure. The Maine ran offstage, and I hung the camera back around my neck. Suddenly Phoebe was by my side again, urging me to move backstage again.

“Lets watch the guys from backstage, it's the last night we can,” She said, and I was in no mood to argue. We climbed up a half flight of stairs, and I found myself accidentally running into the guys who were huddled for their preshow chat. I bumped into Kyle first, then toppled past Jonathan and finally landed in Caleb's arms.

“Whoa, where'd you come from?” He asked as he helped steady me.

“Um, the stairs,” I mumbled, and he laughed, dragging me into their pre-show prayer.

“Okay guys, you're good to go,” we heard someone say in passing, and right as I began to turn away to let the guys through, Caleb grabbed me.

“Just one to hold me through the show,” he whispered, pulling me in a rushed but passionate kiss, I stood there a little flabbergasted as he darted onto the dark stage, and let a grin rip across my face as their opening cowboy skit was ruined by members of every other band. They ran onstage with water guns and sprayed the FTSK guys, declaring the pirates the winners of the duel. Kent seemed a little confused as he ran over to play the beginning of Hey Brittany, and I laughed with Phoebe as the show continued.

“I don't want this to be over Paige,” Phoebe pouted as Kyle winked at her from the drum kit.

“Me either,” I declared, thinking about how much I would miss the redhead I had once despised.