Early Sunsets Over Newark

It was always hard after fighting with Sam. I couldn't sleep all night, not that I could sleep on the stinky yellow sheets. Instead I sat in the chair she had sat in, waiting up for her. Dam her and the reversal of roles. Somewhere between the time the sun came up and the tour manager came in the room to wake us up, I had passed out. It was ten o'clock in the morning and she still wasn't back yet? This was going to a whole new level.

I felt worse than bad. i felt horrible. It wasn't just the semi-hangover, but the fact I had said some nasty things last night and wanted to apologize right away. Sam had been my best friend for years, and now she was more than that. She was my sister. I changed clothes, and met the boys downstairs on the bus for breakfast.

"Where's Samantha?" Gerard's head tilted as he asked the short question, Mikey taking the McDonald's bag from him and pulling out his hash browns. I shrugged, and Brian took a step closer. "What do you mean you don't know?" For someone who couldn't figure out if he wanted to bed her or not, Brian was really protective of her.

I shrugged again. "I mean i don't know. We got in a fight last night, and she walked out."

Johnny scoffed and grinned wide. "yeah, I overheard that. Looks like you two kids are getting a big d-i-v-o-r-c-e."

I rolled my eyes while the rest of the boys looked at me confused.

"It was the heat of the moment! Okay? God. Just let it go. She'll come back. She just needs some time..."

After brekafast, the crew agreed that Sam was going to assume we were still in the hotel rooms. What better way to surprise her than wait? I agreed half heartedly and followed them up to me and Sam's room, unlocking the door and letting them go crazy. Mikey widened his eyes while Gerard plugged his nose.

"Who said you could throw a party?!"

I scoffed.

"We didn't, daddy Gee; this place is just a real shit hole if you don't have your face plastered all over the fucking tabloids."

He suddenly looked offended and apologized, taking the free chair in the corner and crossing his legs comfortably while Frank went and sat on his lap: like he was santa.

"What about ladies first?!" I growled. Frank shook his head and then looked down at Gerard.

"This is boys' club house. You can sit on the bed."

I looked over at the bed, even mikey was fraid to sit down on it. I cringed and then looked back.

"Fine. Whatever. So immature."

I sat down on the floor, hugging my knees when suddenly the door opened and Samantha walked through. She paused for a brief moment to see us all there, gave a fake smile then went to the shower. The rest of us looked at one another.

"Did you see her fucking eyes? She's spaced man." Brian's concern was growing, and so was mine. I swallowed hard. "Sam? On drugs? please, as if."

Frank rolled his eyes,"Oh what, she passed D.A.R.E with flying colors?"

I thought back to high school and the week in sophomore year when they were doing all the D.A.R.E speeches. We hadn't gone because we were too busy in the senior parking lot.

"Come to think of it, we skipped D.A.R.E to go smoke..."

Gerard shoved Frank off his lap and jumped to his feet. At the same time, he and Brian crossed their arms and waited for her to return. When she did, it felt like war.

"Figure out what the fucks wrong with you. Decide on one way your going to act towards me and keep it. I'm fucking done with your games."

Zacky hissed near silently as Brian seemed to back down. But Gerard was up to stay.

"Where the hell did you go last night? What were you thinking?! We're on fucking tour! What if the tabloids saw you? You could ruin this for all of us!"

I jumped to my feet, stood in front of Gerard and defended her.

"Hey hey hey! It's okay. Cause she's safe now, right?" I looked around the room at all the irritated faces looking back me and felt like throwing up. "That's all that should matter so let's just get on the road..."