Making Friends With Bacardi

Kayleigh's P.O.V

Ever since Alex fell asleep with me after the party he's been acting weird. He's more touchy feely and he looks at me differently. His eyes light up when ever he sees me and a smirk grows on his face. He doesn't insult me anymore for fun, and he helps me out a lot more with merch. If only I could remember exactly what happened that night. Exactly what made him change.

It was the 3rd of July and the end of the second week of tour. I've gotten used to this daily routine. It mostly consisted of waking up, setting up, merching, packing up, sleeping. But every now and then I would watch the boys play or go party with them. We also started to go through that catering line. It felt good to actually start eating real food.

You're probably wondering how we shower or when we even have time to shower. Most of the time I just wash my hair in the sink, shave, and wash up every night, alone. But when the guys feel its time to get clean, they throw body paint on themselves, soap on a slip n' slide, and play with that until all the body paint is off. I join in too sometimes. But every night I still wash my hair in the sink. Jack doesn't get why girls like to be so clean all the time. I just told him it's because we aren't disgusting like him and he left me alone.

Jack approached me with a big bottle of blue paint in his hands. He had sweat dripping from his hair, a soaked shirt and a red face. He eyed me down. "Strip down and lets get clean." He winked.

I stood up from my chair behind the shaded merch table. "You guys done playing already?" I asked.

He nodded and handed me the blue paint. "C'mon, lets go."

"But the merch-" I said.

"Don't worry about it." He shrugged it off. "No ones gonna steal our shit."

This time the slip n' slide was in the middle of everyone trying to walk to the next stage. Usually it was behind the buses. I wonder who was smart enough to put it in the middle of everyone.

"Kayleigh!" Rian screamed, tackling me to the ground in front of everyone. He was covered in wet red and white paint.

"Rian!" I yelled, trying to get up, but he was too strong and pinned me down. "You're getting paint all over my clothes!"

"They couldn't get any worse." He said as he got up.

I gave him a fake laugh and took off my light purple tank top. It had red and white paint smeared all over it. "Looks amazing." I said sarcastically and he pulled me over to the slip n' slide line.

I always wore a bathing suit under my clothes now. Sometimes I just wear the top as a shirt on those super hot days. And you never know when you're gonna need a bathing suit around the guys. Water guns, water balloons, and chocolate syrup were their favorite things to battle and fight with.

"Hey kid." I said to Zack as I got behind him in the short line. There were random people in the line that I've never seen before, and of course there was cobra starship. They were the ones that came up with the slip n' slide idea. But All Time Low were the ones that wanted to make it even more messier and add in the paint.

Zack didn't even say hi. Instead he poured yellow and pink paint all over me and asked if I wanted to race him down the long sheet of yellow thin plastic.

"You're on." I told him.

There were three other people in front of us but they went quick. When it was me and Zack's turn I pushed him back and slid down the plastic, making sure my mouth was closed the whole way so soap wouldn't get in. I was halfway down, but Zack grabbed my feet and pulled me back. He got on the plastic in front of me and almost made it to the end until I jumped on his back. I was determined to make it to the end and win but Alex came by and picked me up, causing Zack to get up from under my weight and win. "Asshole!" I joked to Alex.

He smirked. "My turn next?"

"Yes, but no cheating!" I pointed a finger at him.

He put me down and we got to the back of the line behind Rian and Jack. "You figure out what we're doing for tomorrow?" Jack asked Alex.

Tomorrow is the fourth of July and we had off. I was hoping to be left alone on the bus all day to cool off and relax. Then hopefully watch some fireworks at night. Hopefully I'll have time to call my parents and tell them how much I miss them. It was only the end of the first week of tour but I got really homesick when I heard Jack pacing back and forth in the back lounge on the phone with his mom.

"Yes, we always go the speed limit mom." He whined. "Yes, I'm fine. Uh.. no I haven't showered yet... Mom! I will. I promise... No! I'm not lying. I promise you, I'm not. I'll even take a video of me in the bath tub, would you like that? Yeah, thought so... but just in case you want to watch it, I'll put it up on buzznet... No way! You cleaned my room?! It's finally clean?! Oh, I love you mom."

That's not the exact conversation me and my mom would have. Our conversation would consist of 'I miss you's' an 'I love you's' My room is always clean and she knows I can take care of myself enough to shower everyday.

"I'm grilling hamburgers and hot dogs!" Alex said.

"Where?" Rian laughed.

"I haven't gotten that far yet," Alex said, "We'll probably find some random field to lay out all our shit. And I've got fireworks!"

"I didn't know you packed fireworks!" Jack yelled.

"No!" I quickly said. "You're not playing with those."

Jacks huge grin fell, causing Rian and Alex to laugh. "Yeah, I'll be the one setting them off. Jack you can watch from inside the bus." Rian said.

Jack didn't say anything. He just glared at us, turned around, and slid down the slip n' slide. When he got off it was me and Alex's turn. We both stood side by side a few feet away so we could run. "You can get a head start." He said. "Go."

Without hesitation I ran. When I got down on the plastic, I felt Alex right behind me. I wondered how he could get that close to me that fast. Halfway down the plastic he was right beside me. He must have got up and ran to catch up with me. He wrapped his arms around me and we made it to the end. He got on top of me. "Tie." He said in a sly whisper.

His face was so close to mine and I could smell the hint of mint from his breath. His wet hand ran up my side and his face got closer. "Alex." I whispered.

"Shh." He said and moved in to kiss me. I turned my head to the side quickly and I felt his head fall in shame. I eased myself out from under his body, stood up, speechless and having nowhere to run. My best friend just tried to kiss me. My best friend for about five years just tried to kiss me. My best friend that I told all my embarrassing secrets to and shared every one of my feelings with just tried to kiss me. He just tried to kiss me in front of everyone. He just tried to kiss me, I thought.

He stood up and looked at me with wide eyes. "I-I'm sorry." He stuttered quietly.

The situation was so awkward, I had to walk away. I walked towards the buses as fast as I could. Behind me, I heard the guys yelling my name. But I didn't look back. I kept walking past people staring at me as fast as I could until I finally made it to the bus.

I went straight to the bathroom to wash myself off. I scrubbed my skin hard with a warm wash cloth as colorful drops of water fell to the floor. Maybe he slipped, I thought. Maybe he didn't really try to kiss me. Maybe he leaned down to give me a hug. But then again, why would he say sorry?

Behind the bathroom door I heard someone walk onto the bus. I quickly reached for the lock with shaking hands to lock myself in the bathroom but I remembered that the lock didn't work. So I just sat on the floor in front of it, smearing paint all down the door with my back.

"Kayleigh..." The person outside the door called out. I didn't say anything. I didn't move or make a noise. I just sat on the floor and kept washing the paint off myself. "Kayleigh!" They called again.

I got my mind together and stood up, almost slipping on the rainbow of water and paint that gathered together on the floor. I stood there for a while and the person behind the door opened it.

"Kayleigh." He whispered.