Love's Not A Competition

Day 1: October 1st, 2008 -Charlotte, NC

"I'm so excited for this, but I'm not ready to leave you...Maybe we should just go on half of your tour..."

Jack's eyes lit up. "I'll think about it." I finished. He shrugged and actually took it as it was.

"I'll call you every day, Ang. We've gotta find at least one day to be together."

"Duh. Call everyday after practice."

"Duh." He mocked.

I smiled before he went in to kiss me. "Yeah...I'd hate to break this up and everything, but we've got a plane to catch." Kaycee interrupted. "We've gotta go, Angie."

Her eyes shot straight to mine as if I was going to be the immediate reason for us possibly missing the plane, while Aiden, however, had been roaming the airport for an hour and still hadn't come back. She looked around frantically and left, I guess finally noticing the one-third of absence.

I looked back at Jack, whose eyes were starting to look lonely before I've even left. "Ugh, she's right. You have to go. You're like five minutes away from boarding." He said before kissing me again. He caressed my arm and sighed. "I should've brought a can of pepper spray for you to use on Carden."

"Ahh, no. The concept of pepper spray makes me feel like a damsel in distress. I'd just go with using my fist to apply to his eye. That always works."

"What about kicking him in the balls?" He suggested.

"That too." I smiled.

"ANGIE!" Kaycee yelled. I noticed Aiden had come back and they were both pointing to their watches as I saw people behind them already boarding our plane.

"Fuck.." I sighed.

Jack reached out and pulled me into a giant hug then kissed me one more time. I started to walk away slowly, not wanting to let his hand go. "I love you, call me after the show."

"I love you too. And once again, duhhh." He finally let go of my hand after letting out a smile.

The love and warmth quickly escaped from my mind and I already missed every aspect of him as I had only walked twenty feet closer to boarding the plane.

***

"Hey hey, Mike Carden!" I ran to him full speed before catching him off guard when I pounded into his chest too fast.

Mike let out an 'UMF!' and bent over, pushing me out of the embrace. "Shit." He mumbled, following a fit of coughs.

"Sorry!" I frantically went to somehow help him. "I'm so sorry!" I gasped.

"I'm good. I'm okay." He was still out of breath. "I'm fine, don't worry about me. You're here!"

He attempted to stand all the way up, but winced which still made me feel bad. "Let's try this again." I offered before hugging him again, making sure not to hurt him.

"Ahh, that's a way better hug." Mike claimed. I still felt like a dick. At least Jack would be proud of me...

"We're so excited you asked us on tour!" I smiled while changing the subject.

"We're glad you're here." Mike replied.

"No, I mean, Mike; honestly. Thank you. You have no idea how many people have added us on Myspace! And you should see how many plays we've gotten on our songs. It's surreal....crazy awesome."

"Well, that's what happens when you go on tour with a great band like us." He said confidently.

"Ha. Okay."

"This is going to be the best tour ever. You've gotta meet the rest of the bands, everyone's awesome."

"Well, I already know Hey Monday...I need to meet Carolina Liar and WE THE KINGS! Oh my Lord I love them!" My words ran together as I finally realized where I was and who I would be spending nearly the next two months with.

Mike laughed at my excitement. His eyes glazed over and looked past me. "AIDEN! MY MAN!" I heard a soft, but booming voice behind me.

"Bill Beckett!" I yelled.

"Angie Lambert!" He mocked before hugging me. "You ready to kick this tour off?"

"Hell yeah!" I replied while returning the high five Bill held out for me. He smiled and proceeded on to Aiden.

I turned back around. "So...Michael..."

"Nope, that's not my name." He replied. "Chislett's here now, I'm just simply Mike."

I laughed. "Yeah, well I can call you whatever I want. Right now, I'm going with Michael. Take it."

"Fine." Mike smirked. His eyes met mine and stayed for seconds that seemed like hours. His stare was unbearable but mostly uncomfortable.

"So, uh...do you wanna show me around? Like, meet everyone and such?"

"Yeah. Uhh...sure, sure. Can do." He agreed. His trance subconsciously continued as we began to walk.

"Hey! Angie!" I turned around to find the voice that summoned me. Rachel.

"What's up?"

"Come here!"

I spun back towards Mike. "One second."

With his approval by nod, I ran back across the lot towards Rachel. "What?"

"Angie, you can't go off with him!" She tried to whisper. It didn't work. However, she was still quiet enough to keep the conversation between us.

"And why can't I do that?" I questioned.

She put her hand on her forehead. "Are you serious? This is your problem, Angie! Everything flies with you. This situation should not fly!"

"What situation, Rachel?!"

"You're going with Mike. Alone. No. Not a good idea."

"I guess..." I sighed. "But, it's not like I'd let him touch me anyway. I'd probably punch him or something."

"Yeah, and get kicked off the tour? Angie, just help me unload shit. There's fans over there, if they see you going off with Mike Carden then find out you're going out with Jack, that'd pretty much be a horrible image."

"Heh...image?"

Rachel nodded. "Just help me set up the table."

"Fine. Let me go tell Mike that my 'mother' said I'm grounded right now."

Rachel playfully punched my arm. "Go."

"Yes ma'am." I started my way back to Mike.

"What was that about?" He asked me.

"Ugh, I have to help Rachel load in some stuff, so I can't go with you." I lied.

"Aww. That sucks. And you have soundcheck first, too."

"Yeah...I'll make time to meet everyone, I guess."

"Well, come find me later if you have any extra time."

"Oh, I will. You're my designated tour guide."

He smiled at the fact that he was actually something to me. As if tour guide was the new term for 'friends with benefits.'

"I'll see you later, Mike." He wiped away his smile to say bye as I walked away.

***

"How nervous were you on your first day of your first tour?" I was basically hypervenalating in to the phone.

"Calm down." Jack laughed. "I was nervous as hell. I kept drinking water before we played and by the time we had to go out, I made us late because I had to pee so bad. When I got out there, I couldn't even hold my guitar right. I couldn't keep my fingers on the frets, either. Finally, when it actually came time to playing my first chord, I was comfortable. As soon as you get out there, every feeling goes away."

"Jack, I'm so scared. I'm like freaking out here."

"Calm down!" He repeated and continued to laugh at me. "When do you go on?"

"Fourty-five minutes!" I screamed.

"Alright." He sighed. "Talk to me until it's fifteen."

I looked out of the window noticing more people waiting in line outside of the venue. "Okay, hold on though. I need to get out of the van and at least go outside."

"You're in the van? Really Angie?"

"You know what, Jack? Shut up. I needed some quiet." I climbed out of the van and closed the door. "This venue's cute."

"Cute? Angie, venues aren't cute. In fact, buildings aren't really cute at all."

"Jack, shut up and hold on, I'm walking inside so it's going to get noisy."

I walked in to the door and attempted to make my way past all the kids trying to get it. "Shit, it's crowded all over here...I have to fucking go back out..." I mumbled as I went back through the sea of people that just seemed to be getting bigger by the second. I nearly fell when I finally reached the outside.

"Are you okay now?" Jack had an amused tone in his voice. I could already read the expression he was giving through the phone: a dumb smirk, his head slightly tilted to the left. It was amazing, I could read him like a book.

"I have to go in through another door. It's really crowded in there."

"Heh. You can just tell you're a tour newbie. You're not supposed to in the doors the fans are in. Ever. That's what your pass is for."

"Don't you think I have the common sense to realize that? I was just closer to this door. I'm heading to the back right now."

With a deep breath, I continued my walk. As the street corner came closer, I began mentally preparing myself for the performance in only thirty minutes. The antisipation I felt was basically panic. I changed my expression from fear in to and uncomfortable smile that I gave to three teenage girls I passed on the street corner who all stared back in some kind of horror. I was probably self-consciously making odd faces due to the fact I was deep in thought.

"OH MY GOD! THAT WAS ANGIE FROM NEW YORK JUNKIE!"

"Whoa!" I jumped at the sound of my name. People know me?

The girls ran back to me and their excited faces looked almost bloodthirsty.

"Did someone just scream your name?" I could hear Jack saying. I almost forgot the phone to my ear.

"Yeah!" I replied joyfully. "I'm gonna have to go, I guess."

"Fucking sweet! Call me after the show."

"Okay, I love you."

"I love you t-" I hung up on accident. Too anxious at what just happened. "Oops...Uhh, sorry, what can I do for you guys?"

"Can you sign this?" One of the girls shoved a picture of us at me.

"Yeah, sure dude...Do you have a sharpie?"

"Oh, yeah." She looked down and pulled out a bright green sharpie from her pocket.

"Thanks, what's your name?"

"Ariel."

"Oh, that's cool, I had a friend named Ariel in high school." She watched as I signed my name and message over my head in the picture; Dear Ariel, you definately rock. Consider yourself our first fan. It felt weird to sign my name for real, usually I just slop something down and consider it 'Angie Lambert.'

"Can I have a picture?" She added in.

"Sure..." I responded, still feeling slightly confused. Her friend pulled out a camera and snapped the picture right as I got my pose down.

"Hey, I'm sorry if I scared you, we just really like your band." The girl with the camera spoke and came forward with another picture of the band. "We heard you were coming and freaked out."

"Ha, it's cool." I replied while putting the cap back on the marker and giving both it and the picture back to girl with camera, who I meant to ask the name of. "I was kind of freaking out because this is our first show on tour, so I called my boyfriend to help chill me out...I was also making my way back in the building."

"Oh." Girl with camera replied. "You're dating Jack Barakat, right?"

I opened my eyes wider and was shocked with more amazement. "Yeah...how'd you guys know that?"

"Sorry! I didn't mean to be creepy again, we saw it on your Myspace."

"Oh, duh. Yeah, not creepy. I just didn't think that through." I laughed. "Sorry, I'm not used to this. You guys were the first people to notice me, so that's awesome!"

"You're so lucky you're dating Jack, he's so hot."

"Ahhh...yeah I know." The girls laughed at my cocky joke. "It's weird, I used to be like, obsessed with him last year. Glad to know he liked me too. It was pretty random."

"I bet." Ariel agreed. "We're gonna go see them when they come. Will you be there?"

"Ahh maybe, but it's more likely that I won't be. We'll still be with TAI." I looked at my phone to check the time. "Hey, I've gotta go. It was really nice to meet you. Come hang out after the show." I jogged away from the girls and found the back door that was luckily unlocked.

"WHERE THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN?!" Kaycee screamed as soon as I walked in.

"Oh, hey to you too."

"Don't be a smart ass, get dressed. You are SO lucky Rachel did your hair before you disappeared. We need to hurry, we're on in ten!" She shoved clothes in my face.

"Yeah, yeah I know." I had already started to take off my clothes.

"What are you doing?! People can see you!"

"Okay? I'm just taking off my pants and shirt...ooh porn." I rolled my eyes as she let out an annoyed grunt at me.

"Shut up Angie. Just put on the clothes. Four minutes!"

"Done."

"Thank God." She tugged me and started running throughout the building.

"Dude, I have to tell you what happened!" I panted.

"Run and talk!"

"I met some fans! They screamed my name in the freaking middle of the street. It was awesome!"

"Cool. Great. Let's go." She nudged Aiden as she said 'let's go.' I realized this was it: our first REAL show.

"Oh my God, I'm gonna throw up."

"No time, let's go." Kaycee nudged me and started walking.

I followed after her past a curtain once Aiden had entered going center stage. A bright light was shining in my eyes. This is too crazy. A single scream filtered the room then it packed on more until hundreds of screams elevated the room. I grabbed my guitar and strummed a quick chord. The screams got louder. I turned to smile at Aiden and turned to the microphone.

"What up, North Carolina?!" The screams ecstatically filled the room again. "How are you guys doing tonight?!" More screams. My ears popped.

"I hope that meant awesome because I'm feelin' awesome. We are called New York Junkie, and we come from a little place called Chicago. And uhh...this song is called 'Saying Little Things.'"

I held down the strings and strummed playfully on my guitar. Immediately, the crowd started jumping to the song. The words seemed like they came easily to some people in the crowd, and some were wishing they knew them. So what if we only played five songs?

My mind was completely gone because I didn't know how this could ever happen. At the end of thirty minutes, I put my tired guitar down. "Thank you! We'll be at the merch table. Come say hi." My body was sweating and it seemed like my life had changed forever. I was no longer just Angie Lambert. I was THE Angie Lambert.