Mental Fiction Follows Me

“You know I make you wanna scream!”

“I know no such thing!” I yelled as I continued running from my sweaty cousin. They had just gotten through playing their first show, which was amazing, and I had refused to hug Brian in congratulations because he was sweaty.

“Would you stop chasing her already?!” I heard Aiden yell. Then I heard her scream, and I looked over my shoulder long enough to see her thrown over Johnny’s shoulder.

“Syn! I’m wanring you!” I yelled, using his nickname.

“Syd! I’m telling you!” Brian yelled back. I looked over my shoulder to see how close he was, and I fell right into someone. We both hit the ground, and I guess Brian couldn’t stop because he fell on top of me.

“Hey! It’s a Syd-sandwich!” Zacky yelled. I got one arm free and flipped him off before looking to see who I was lying on. My eyes landed on the letter “F”, and I realized that I was looking down at Jimmy’s bare chest.

“Hey, Jimbo,” I said and smiled.

“Hey, Syd. How you doin’?” Jimmy asked.

“I’m sweaty,” I said and dropped my chin to his chest.

“I win!” Brian yelled.

“Zacky, get this idiot off me, please?” I asked and looked up at Zacky. Zacky rolled his green eyes and grabbed Brian’s middle belt loop.

“But I wanna make a sandwich!” Brian yelled as Zacky pulled him up. I turned my head just in time to see Brian almost fall backwards, but Zacky caught his hips and steadied him.

“Thanks, Zacky,” Brian said over his shoulder.

“No problem,” Zacky said. Brian looked down, and so did Zacky. Zacky’s hands were still firmly on Brian’s hips. Brian looked back up at Zacky, and then Zacky quickly removed his hands.

“I’m gonna go find Johnny,” Brian said and started to walk off.

“I’m thirsty,” Zacky said almost at the same time and started to walk in the opposite direction. I twisted around on Jimmy’s torso until I was laying with my back pressed to his chest. Jimmy’s arms encircled my waist and he laid his hands on my stomach. I put my hands on top of his and watched everyone run around backstage.

“Well, that was kinda weird. I thought they were gonna make out for a second there,” Jimmy said.

“Same here. Do you have a problem with that or something?” I asked casually. I picked up one of his hands and started tracing the lines on his palm.

“No. It doesn’t really matter to me,” Jimmy said.

“Yeah, same here,” I said.

“What are you two doing?” I looked up to see Nikkita and Matt staring down at us.

“Well, we were a Syd-sandwich until Brian left,” Jimmy said.

“It was horrible,” I said.

“Oh, you poor thing. Do you want me to have Matt kick his ass?” Nikkita asked.

“No, that’s okay. Maybe next time,” I said.

“Well, we gotta go. I don’t know about yall, but I need a shower,” Matt said.

“Jimmy does too,” I said quickly.

“Hey!”

“Just speaking the facts, hun,” I said and extended my hand. Nikkita took it and pulled me to my feet. Matt had jerked Jimmy up, so now we were all standing.

“Let’s go find the other girls,” Nikkita said.

“Gladly,” I said and looped my arm through hers. We skipped over to where Aiden and Deandra were talking, and they both looked over at us with a raised eyebrow.

“I was a sandwich!” I yelled.

“I saw,” Aiden said and smiled at me.

“It was pretty hilarious to watch. You didn’t break your hip or anything, did you?” Deandra asked. By now, we were friends who liked to mess with each other. It was all in good fun.

“You sound cranky. Did you take your nap today?” I asked.

“Where are we going to eat?” Aiden asked, interrupting us.

“Micky D’s!” Craig yelled and slid into the center of our circle. Escape The Fate was now on their own bus, but we were all still inseperable. They weren’t playing until tomorrow night.

“Again?” Nikkita asked.

“I like Micky D’s. Please?” Craig asked.

“Ugh, fine!” Aiden yelled.

“Yay!” Craig yelled and ran off.

“How did I wind up here?” Deandra mumbled, I guessed, to herself.

“Stalker boyfriend, me attempting to help, and some slashed tires,” I said.

“I didn’t mean here in general,” Deandra replied.

“Oh, well, I don’t know why you’re here. You made that decision on your own,” I said.

“You two aren’t gonna start again, are you?” Nikkita asked.

“Just let them go, Nik,” Aiden said.

“Do you two enjoy watching us argue?” Deandra asked.

“It’s normally very entertaining,” Aiden replied.

“Well, what if we turned the tables and started in on you?” I asked, knowing where Deandra was headed.

“It would suck,” Nikkita said.

“Exactly. So don’t start on us,” Deandra said.

“You can’t blame them though,” I said.

“Blame them for what?” Deandra asked.

“For starting on us about starting on each other,” I said quickly.

“It doesn’t bother you?”

“Not in the slightest. I’m sure that if we were on the outside looking in, it’d look pretty funny.”

“Only someone as old as you would have that kind of wisdom.”

“And someone as young as you will never understand it.”

“I didn’t say I didn’t understand it.”

“I’m just assuming.”

“What if you assumed wrong?”

“Then I’ve just assumed wrong. What’s your point?”

“That your assumption was wrong.”

“Why didn’t you just say that?”

“I just did.”

“I meant the first time.”

“You’re not making any sense.”

“Once again, I’ve proved that you’re a senseless youngin.”

“Listen here, grandma-” Deandra’s next words were caught off by a pale hand, and I smiled at Max.

“You two seriously talk too much,” Max said.

“It keeps everyone else entertained,” I said and looked at Aiden and Nikkita.

“I’m not saying anything,” Nikkita said.

“Same here,” Aiden said.

“Are you girls arguing again?” I turned around to see Brian and the rest of the guys walking towards us.

“Of course not,” I said and smiled at him.

“Then why is Max covering Deandra’s mouth?” Zacky asked.

“Something about a grandma...” I said.

“Finally! I wanna go to Micky D’s!” Craig yelled.

“You heard the man! Let’s go!” Aiden yelled.

One hour later, we’re all crammed into booths at McDonalds. Since everyone refused to completely separate, we stacked up. On one side of the Avenged booth, it’s Matt (with Nikkita in his lap), Brian, and then Zacky. On the other side is Johnny (with Aiden in his lap), and then Jimmy with me in his lap. In the booth behind Matt are the Escape The Fate boys. Deandra got stuck in Max’s lap.

“Hey, Granny!”

“Yes, child?”

“How about a truce?”

“For how long?”

“The rest of the night?”

“Deal!” Deandra smiled and returned to her food. I smiled, picked up my drink, and leaned back onto Jimmy’s chest.

“Are you gonna eat those?” Jimmy asked and pointed to my nuggets. I picked one up and turned it in my fingers.

“No. Want one?” I asked.

“Please?” he whispered. I put the nugget to his lips and laughed as he nearly bit my fingers off.

“How can guys eat like that?” I asked, to no one in particular.

“I have no idea,” Aiden said from beside me. I was busy feeding Jimmy my remaining nuggets when something hit my cheek. The fry, that was soaked in ketchup, fell off my cheek and landed in my lap. I could feel the ketchup on my face, making it itch slightly. Jimmy was laughing and causing me to shake.

“I thought this was a truce?!” I yelled at Deandra, who was laughing into Max’s shoulder.

“Max did it!” Deandra yelled.

“Andy did it!” Max yelled. Andy? That was a nice nickname. I picked up one of my nuggets and threw it, hitting Deandra. It bounced off of her and hit Max.

“Ha! Take that!” I yelled.

“I was gonna eat that!” Jimmy yelled.

“Sorry, hun,” I said and patted his thigh. I felt something else hit me, and this time it was a piece of lettuce.

“This is war!” I yelled. I heard someone yell “Food fight!” and the battle began...