It's Not the Life It Seems

It was well after the show had ended and everyone, apart from Mikey and Alicia, were in the lounge area of the bus. Unfortunately for them they had to travel through the night in order to make it to the next destination, which meant no luxury hotel. They were all just sitting in silence, as everyone was tired from the constant travelling, and their wasn’t much that needed to be said. Frank had Jamia dozing peacefully in his arms, and he himself was also falling asleep. Ray and Christa were just sitting on the couch, with Honey next to them, while Bob had his head on the kitchen table upon which Gerard sat. Christa suddenly leapt to her feet, disrupting the peace and causing everyone to look at her.

“Ooh I nearly forgot. I brought a present for the bus with me!” She said excitedly as she dashed off somewhere, presumably to her suitcase. A few minutes later she returned, holding a box in her hands.

“What is it?” Ray asked with a confused look on his face.

“It’s Singstar!”Christa exclaimed. Now everyone was alert and intrigued to know what it was.
“Sing-what?” Frank asked. Christa rolled her eyes at him.

“Singstar. Its like a karaoke game you play on the play station and it scores you. You can also verse each other and have battles or do duets!”

Bob put his head back on the table, clearly not interested but Honey stood up.

“I’ll verse you”, She said to Christa. Christa whirled around to face her, her face lighting up.

“Yay, here look at the list of songs to chose from, you pick”, Christa said thrusting the list in Honey’s hands, clearly delighted to have a singing partner and not overly fazed at who she was versing.

Honey scanned her eyes down at the list of songs, “Ha they have me. Oh and you guys!”

Gerard perked up, “Which song is it?”

“Helena. Oh I am so versing you in that later Gee, I’m going to kick your sweet ass back to Jersey, but for now let’s sing Ashlee Simpson,” Honey said picking up her microphone.

Frank snorted, “You’re not meant to sing Ashlee, you’re meant to mime. That’s how she does it at least”.

Honey glared at him before starting the song “boyfriend”. During the chorus to the song Honey jumped in Franks face and sang the lyrics right to him, as if the song was for him “Hey how long till the music drowns you, don’t put words up in my mouth, I didn’t steal your boyfriend!” Not surprisingly Honey won, but not by much and Christa and her enjoyed jumping around the bus singing the ridiculous lyrics. At the end of the song everyone clapped for them before Frank said, “Honey I couldn’t help but think you were trying to tell me something through that song”.

Honey nodded, pretending to be sincere, “Frankie I was”. Honey put her hand over her heart, “I know there have been a lot of rumors surrounding us lately, but I just want you to know that Gerard is all yours still and I’d never come between you two because I can see something really special there”.

Frank gasped dramatically, and dropped to the ground, wrapping his arms around Honeys ankles, “You have no idea how good it is to hear you say that. I’ve been so worried”.

Honey laughed and kicked her feet out to shake him off, “Get off me loser, and verse me in Singstar”.

“Yes ma’am” Frank saluted and jumped over to the microphone, “Can we do Britney Spears ‘Hit me Baby One More Time’?” Honey giggled and nodded her head. The second Frank started belting out the song with all the emotion he could muster, Honey knew she would lose. Not because he was better, but because she could not control her laughter. After the song had finished, and Honey had lost by a considerable amount, she turned to face Gerard, placing her hands on her hips.

“Now mister, I think it’s about time I beat you in Helena”.

Gerard mockingly glared back at her, “THAT is my song, there is no way I’m letting some pop superstar beat me at my own game”.

Honey grabbed her mic as the intro began, determined to try her best.

“Long ago, just like the hearse you died to get in again” Gerard and Honey sung together, whilst glaring at the other. When the song really got going Honey was jumping up and down like a mad women which was matched by Gerard falling to his knees and singing on the ground on his back. As the song came to a close Honey accepted her defeat, even though it was extremely close.

“Ha! You tried to take on the master and you failed! I hope you’ve learnt your lesson”, Gerard said smugly.

Honey shook her head, “Nope, I want a rematch. That didn’t prove who the better singer is because it’s your song”.

“Fine” Gerard laughed as he put on a new song.

Honey and Gerard were singing their tenth song. Each time one would lose, the other would demand a new song as they were both as competitive as each other. The others had sat in the room but were quickly getting bored with Honey screaming when she won, then Gerard sulking and vice versa. Honey and Gerard turned around after their fourteenth time to find the bus lounge empty.

“Huh, where did everyone go?” Honey asked looking around.

Gerard shook his head, “Don’t know, bed I guess. Hey want to do Sonny and Cher?”

Honey laughed picking up her microphone, “Sure”.

It was well past midnight. Honey felt her eyelids dropping as Gerard bugged her to sing another song. Honey wondered if he realized that his voice was failing him.

“Please just one more. One little song more” He begged with big puppy dog eyes. Honey sighed and sang U2 with him before falling dramatically to the floor and just lying there.
Honey’s voice was sore and hoarse. “What’s the time?” She croaked out.

Gerard reached for his cell in his back pocket and pulled it out, “Shit” He said as loudly as he voice would allow him, “Its four! We’ve been singing all night”.

Honey groaned, shutting her eyes “I’m sleeping here. Too tired to move. Night”.

Honey waited for Gerard to walk away, but opened her eyes quickly when she felt a pair of strong arms pick her up off the ground.

“Gee, what are you doing?” She asked in surprise as he carried her towards the bunks.

“I couldn’t let you sleep there!” He said placing her down in her bunk.

“I was only joking, I would have made it to bed eventually” Honey whispered, partly because everyone was sleeping and partly because her voice was slowly dying.

“Well I didn’t want to take that chance”, Gerard said softly before kissing her on the top of her head, “Night”.

“’Mmmm..” Honey mumbled before drifting off into a deep sleep.

“BABY!” A loud voice squealed.

Honey’s eyes snapped open as the loud voice abruptly brought her out of her deep sleep. A black blur rushed past her bed and continued talking in a high pitched squeal, which Honey wouldn’t have normally minded except for the fact that it was only 10 am.

“Aw I’ve missed you. Have you missed me?”

Honey rubbed her eyes sleepily and swung her feet out of her bunk to see Eliza standing next to Gerard, who by the looks of it had just woken up as well. Eliza was brushing the hair out of his face when she turned and saw Honey standing there.

Eliza plastered a huge smile on her face, “Hi! How have you been?”

Honey was taken aback. The last time she met Eliza she seemed to want to have nothing to do with Honey. “He..hello” Honey stammered, her voice still weak.

“Having fun on tour? Oh i think this is going to be a great week” Eliza said cheerfully before turning her back on Honey, leaving her standing there rather speechless.