Making Friends With Bacardi

I woke up the next morning tangled in Jacks arms. His face was barried in my neck and he was holding me tight. I pushed some of his hair out of his face and smiled. He always looks so peaceful when he sleeps.

I caved in on him the night before. He kept begging and begging me to let him fall asleep with me in my bunk. "What's wrong with your bunk?" I asked him.

"Nothing, I just need someone to hold." He replied.

"Well, hug a pillow or something." I said, grabbing my tooth brush.

"But it's not the same!" He whined throwing his arms down.

"My bunk is right above yours anyways. You can just wake me up if you need me." I said putting toothpaste on my brush.

"Okay." He frowned and walked out of the doorway slowly in the direction of the bunks.

When I was done brushing my teeth I tiptoed back to my bunk, trying to be as quiet as I could so I wouldn't wake anyone. I climbed in my bunk and got comfortable under the covers. When an arm wrapped around me, I screamed, jumped and hit my head on the bottom of Rians bunk.

I yelled in a whisper at Jack for scaring me to death but all he did was laugh, pat my head where I hit it, and cuddled up to me closer. "Jaaaaack." I whined.

"Shh." He mumbled. I didn't say anything back to him. I turned my back to him and his arm was wrapped around my stomach. I was too tired to fight back. Even though Jack is really bony, he's super comfortable. I fell asleep quicker than I thought I would.

The bus was lit up with the morning sun and it was completely silent. I managed to slip out of Jacks arms and plant my feet on the floor successfully without falling or making a loud thud. The cold air hit my bare legs and gave me goosebumps.

I walked out towards the front of the bus to check the time. It was nine AM. Too early. I yawned and ran my hand through my thin hair. Noticing Alex sitting there staring at his laptop screen, I sat down next to him on the couch. Just as I was about to ask him why he was up so early, he spoke before me. "What was that?"

"What was what?" I asked, looking at him confused. He didn't even glance at me. He kept looking at his computer screen. He always used pronouns. He always thought I was smart enough to know what 'it' and 'that' was. It and That could be millions of totally different things.

"You and Jack." He said, looking at me now.

"Oh." I laughed. "Can you see the rug burn on my legs yet?"

Alex chuckled. "No, seriously." He smiled.

"I don't know." I said quietly looking down at the floor. "I might be pregnant. It was too dark and I didn't see Jack put on a-"

"Okay!" Alex laughed. I looked back up at him and he continued on his laptop. "You know you can start setting up merch early."

"Ugh." I groaned. I finally noticed that we were parked. "Can you help me?" I plead, sticking my bottom lip out and giving him hopeful eyes. That always gets him.

He smirked at me and shut his laptop. "Sure, but this is the only time."

"Uh huh." I said sarcastically. "We have the whole tour."

He smiled and got up to walk to the back lounge. We picked up the boxes of merch and headed off the bus. We were both still in PJ's and looked like twins. He had a dark blue v neck with red gym shorts on, and I had a red v neck with dark blue gym shorts on. My hair was a mess and my make up was smeared but I didn't care how I looked.

The morning air was surprisingly cool for Ventura, California. I know this because all of the guys and I took a vacation here two summers before. Zack had the time of his life. He always woke me up at sunrise to catch waves with the dolphins. I got in the water sometimes, but most of the time I sat there and watched him surf. And every morning it was already 70 degrees and humid.

"Holy shit, it's nice out here." Alex said in excitement.

"Yeah, it better stay this way all day." I muttered.

"You really hate summer, don't you?" He said.

That was only half true. I hated summer because of the humidity and the sun. I'm fare skinned so I get really bad sunburn. I loved summer because of the nights. Perfect weather and everyones out enjoying themselves under those Baltimore city lights.

Last summer Alex called me every night at 2am telling me how much fun warped was. "Oh my god Kayleigh, the crowds are huge! There's barbeque's every night! We get to hang out with our favorite bands! I wish you were here. I miss you, girl! Promise me next time, if we go on warped, you'll come with us. I don't want you to miss this!" He would say. Thats only sober Alex. When intoxicated Alex called, he always told me how much he loved me, and how much he appreciated me for being his best friend. One night he even made himself cry because he was thinking too much about how he would feel if I died.

"Alex, you'll be fine. I'm never gonna die." I told him while trying to hold back my laughs.

Alex, sobbing and sniffling, "Everyone dies Kayleigh! You're gonna die, I'm gonna die. Oh god, what if you die before me? What am I gonna do?!" He squealed.

"Alex, calm down." I laughed. "Where's Rian?"

Alex sniffled. "Uh, um" He stalled. "He-he's in, uh, he's rr-right here."

"Can you put him on the phone, please?"

Alex put a sober Rian on the phone. We laughed at him for about 10 minutes before we finally caught our breaths and I told Rian to make him go to sleep. The next day Rian called me and informed me that Alex fell asleep with the phone next to him waiting for me to call back. Alex woke up the next next morning and had no idea why the phone was in his bunk. He didn't believe a word Rian or any of the guys told him.

"I don't hate summer. I just hate sitting out in the sun all day." I said, getting tired of holding the two heavy boxes of merch.

"Yeah, I'd hate to sit out in the sun all day too." He said. I glared at him and he winked back at me.

The place was empty compared to what it would look like in the next few hours. Only bands and people that worked with the tour were roaming around and setting things up. The ground was clean with not a speck of trash on it, and that would be the total opposite by the end of the day.

"Okay here," Alex said picking a spot for the tent and sitting everything he was carrying down on the ground. "next to the air conditioned tent so you can slip in there every so often."

"Oh Alex, you're always thoughtful one. Using one bowl for everyones dinner last night was the best idea you've had yet." I said, dropping the boxes on the ground.

"I know right!" He happily said.

I tried to help Alex put up the tent but he just got annoyed by me constantly asking him how to do this or that. "Look, I'll do this, you do that." He said, pointing to the boxes of merch.

"What am I supposed to do with that?" I said standing over him. He was kneeling on the ground untangling poles.

"Put those shirts back up on the rack. You should just leave them there when you pack up. It'll save you a lot more time the next day." He said sounding aggravated.

"Well I'm sorry you just threw me in the pool without teaching me how to swim first!" I said, throwing my arms up in the air.

He looked up at me and laughed. "That was cute. Who taught you that saying?"

"No one did. I just made it up." I beamed.

I was quiet for the rest of the time Alex was helping me. I didn't want to piss him off even more with my pointless remarks and questions and make him go back to the bus to relax.

"Lets go eat breakfast. Just leave those there." Alex said talking about the boxes of merch as we finished setting up.

I listened and walked back to the bus with Alex. All the boys were up by now. Rian and Zack were sitting on the couch playing some type of video game. It looked like Zack was winning because Rian kept swearing at the TV and controller.

"Yeah yeah yeah yeah." Jack said, walking into the room with his cell phone pressed against his ear. "Yes, I said yes!" He sat down at the booth and looked at us with rolling eyes. "So dude. What?! Dude, you guys have to be here... Evan already called the couch and Matt already called the extra bunk! Are you stupid? That leaves you the back lounge. You have that whole space to yourself... Why would you want a bunk? Oh. Okay. I'll just sleep with Alex the rest of the tour." He said, winking at Alex.

He said good bye to whoever was on the phone and dropped his phone on the table. "Who was that?" Alex asked.

"Danny k, He said they'll be here around 2." Jack informed everyone.

I don't understand why Matt, Evan, Danny k, and Grieco didn't come with us when we left for the tour a few days ago. Rian told me they still needed to get their shit together. But they could have done that before it was time to leave. Yesterday, the first day of warped, they stole people from forever the sickest kids crew to help them play a successful show.

"Well what time do we play?" Zack said after winning the game while Rian sat there with an exhausted look on his face.

"I have no idea." Alex said. "We gotta find Kevin."

"Do you think they'll get here in time?" Rian spoke out to anyone that had an answer.

"Well it depends on what time we play, dip shit." Jack said.

"Hey." Rian said, pointing to Jack and eyeing him down.

Jack just smirked and got up. "I'm getting dressed." He stated and walked back to the bunks.

I took Jacks spot and started to watch the game between Rian and Zack that was going on on the TV screen. Alex walked over to the cabinets and grabbed the big box of froot loops.

"Breakfast!" Alex said sitting the big box down in front of me.

Rian gave up on the game and sat down next to me. Alex came back with five spoons and a huge white bowl. "No!" Me and Rian shouted simultaneously.

Alex looked at us like we were crazy and walked back to get more bowls just for me and Rian. While Alex was doing that, jack came back into the room with a bright baby blue shirt on and some black skinny jeans.

"Spiffy." Alex smirked and smacked his butt.

"You can never wait till the sun goes down, can you?" Jack winked.