Chicago Is So Two Years Ago, Its All About Vegas Baby

We returned to the bus, the other guys practically having to carry Ryan and Joe home after their alcohol extravaganza in the club.

Once we boarded the bus, Pete decided to go straight to bed.

‘You coming Harry?’ he asked me as he undid the Clandestine belt that held up his red skinny jeans.

‘I’ll be there in a sec, let me just check on Brendon.’ I walked quietly through the bus, and peered round the curtain of Brendon’s bunk. He was fast asleep, the slow rise and fall of his chest reassuring me that he was still conscious.

As he lay there, still looking very pale, his young, innocent face made me feel so guilty. He was still so young, I was a good four years older than him, so I instinctively felt a need to look after him. And the fact that he had a crush on me made it worse; I just didn’t feel the same. He was a great guy, any girl would be lucky to have him. Night after night I knew for a fact he had girls throwing themselves at him, girls that were much prettier than me, I wondered why he didn’t have girlfriend already – he sure was a good catch.

Leaving him be, I went back to grab some pyjamas and go to bed. I changed into some mini shorts and a Panic At The Disco shirt from the Nothing Rhymes With Circus tour, Pete gave it to me and I almost always wore it to bed.

I settled into bed and Pete draped his arms over my waist and subconsciously pulled me closer. Drifting off into a dream-filled sleep, I felt content in the arms of my boyfriend.

Once I woke up the next morning, I went off in search of coffee, Pete’s addiction had rubbed off on me. I shuffled into the kitchenette area and turned on the coffee machine, I knew Pete had already gone because he climbed over me to get out the bunk and he kissed me just
before he left.

As the machine brewed, I went back to my bunk to get my laptop. Walking back to the kitchenette, I caught a glimpse of what looked like a person in a bunk. I did a double take before realising it was Brendon.

‘Bren, are you still feelin’ ill?’ I asked him quietly. All he did was nod in response. ‘You poor thing.’ I almost whispered as I put the back of my palm to feel his forehead. He was burning up; I quickly went back to the kitchen and filled a glass with water before getting two Aspirin from the cabinet in the bathroom.

‘Here Bren, take these.’ I handed him the two small pills and he swallowed them with the help of the semi-cold water.

‘Thanks Harriet.’ He croaked.

‘Its okay hon, I really think you should come and sit out in the front lounge, you’re burning up and being cooped up in this bunk is doing you no good.’ I took his hand and helped him up and supported him as he went into the lounge. Leaving him sitting there, I brought him his pillow and a thin blanket.

‘I’m going to be doing some work, so if you need me, I’ll be in here.’

His brown eyes were closed and he just nodded slowly.

Within minutes, he was asleep again, so I refilled his water glass before tiptoeing to the back of the bus to start working. No-one except the members of Fall Out Boy know, but I was ‘thegirlbehindthecurtain.’ I was the person who posted blogs on MySpace and Friends Or Enemies for the band.

So many people suspected it was Pete when in fact it was me, I sat and updated things on both sites. I checked entries for the many competitions the band were running through both sites, sometimes I updated stuff for other bands, but that was only if we were on tour with them. For Panic I had no need to do that because Jon and Ryan covered that, they were very into the whole fan interaction thing, I never realised how much so until that tour, it made me realise why they had such loyal fans.

For a couple of hours, I busied myself with that, then I went to check on Brendon. Only to find him wide awake looking much better, he had a lot more colour in his cheeks.

‘Hey Bren, how’re you feeling?’ I asked him, as I sat down next to him.

‘Much better thanks,’ he smiled at me, ‘but I’m kinda bored.’ He huffed.

‘Want to watch a movie?’ I suggested.

‘Yeah!’ he said, but then his face contorted into a look of sadness, ‘I don’t have any DVDs with me though.’ He frowned.

‘Oh I do,’ I grinned, ‘but I’m afraid they’re all musicals.’

‘Musicals!? They’re the best type of film!’ he screeched.

‘Oh,’ I chuckled, ‘I’ll be right back.’ I jogged to my bunk and grabbed all of the DVDs from my case.

‘Okay, so we have Hairspray, Grease, Chicago, Moulin Rouge, Mary Poppins, Oliver, Phantom of the Opera…’ I carried on telling him the titles of the countless DVDs I owned.

‘High School Musical?!’ he asked surprised.

‘What?’ I defended myself, ‘it was a good film!’

‘I know, lets watch it!’ he practically bounced up and down on the sofa.

‘WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER!’ We sang along with the DVD, after HSM, we watched Chicago, Moulin Rouge and Hairspray. Brendon very convincingly mimed Zac Efron’s character, Link, the whole way through the film. And I played Nikki Blonsky’s character Tracy, it was so much fun.

Once the film finished, Brendon said to me ‘Gosh, Harry I had so much fun today. I feel so much better. Thanks.’

‘You’re welcome Bren.’