I'm a Changed Man

When they stopped at the next store, William and Sisky ran off the bus as soon as the engine cut out. They couldn’t find the brand they had got last time, so they picked up another box instead. When they got back to the bus, William made it and put it in the microwave while Sisky sat at the table, moody.

“OK, what the hell is wrong with you?” William asked, turning round and placing his hands on his hips.

“You, last night, bitching about me to Trav.” Sisky replied. “If you’re gonna bitch about someone, Bill, you should make sure that that person can’t hear you, basic rules.”

“I didn’t know you were there though.” William tried to defend himself.

“Oh, cos that makes it all better then.” Sisky snapped.

William threw his arms up in frustration. “You just fucking said-”

“I didn’t say it was right though, did I?”

William glared at him. “Well it’s true anyway. You were fucking irritating me so much, I was this close to punching you.”

“Do it then.” Sisky said, standing up and getting in William’s face. “Go on, I dare you.”

William snorted. “I’m not giving myself a black eye, I’m not that stupid.”

Sisky just sneered and turned to head to his bunk. William growled and almost punched the wall when he remembered that he shouldn’t really try to break his bassist’s hand when they were in the middle of a tour.

He sat down and waited for the microwave to finish. As soon as it did, William looked towards the bunks, waiting for Sisky to make a reappearance. When he didn’t, he walked to Sisky’s bunk and opened the curtain. Sisky was staring at the top of his small bunk.

“Sisk, it’s done.” William said softly. Sisky looked at him and got out of the bunk. He pushed pass William and got the mug out of the microwave. He drank out of the other side of the mug before thrusting it towards William. As soon as he took it, Sisky walked past him and back to his bunk.

William watched his back (literally until this was changed) then sighed. He drank the hot chocolate too and put it back on the counter. He sat down, not wanting to hit the floor, and waited for the feeling he had felt twice the day before.

After a minute, he thought he felt something, but he still stayed awake.

5 minutes later, and still nothing.

After 10 minutes of waiting, Sisky stormed into the front lounge.

“Ok, are you going to drink the goddamn thing or what?”

“I already did.” William told him.

Sisky frowned. “Then what the hell is happening? Or not happening as it seems.”

William shrugged. Sisky rolled his eyes.

“I’ll call Trav.” Sisky got out his cell. While he waited for the vocalist to answer, he sat down at the table. William jumped up to sit on the counter, watching Sisky.

“Hey bro, back to normal yet?”

“No.” Sisky said. “We got more hot chocolate, we heated it, we drank it from the other side of the cup, but fucking nothing!”

“What brand did you get?” Travis asked. “You gotta get the same brand for it to work.”

“Thanks for the heads up on that.” Sisky muttered before hanging up and looking at William. “We need the same brand.”

William groaned, letting his head fall forward. “We aren’t going to find any before the show tonight, we’ve only got half an hour before sound check.”

“We’ll just have to do it like this.” Sisky looked over at William. “At least you aren’t Chizzy still, everything would have been more fucked up then.”

“Guys, is everything back to normal?” Mike asked, walking towards them. William and Sisky just glared at him. “Ok, I take that as a no.”

“No shit, Carden.” William snapped.

After sound check and the gig, the five of them went straight back to the bus. The gig went well, neither of them fucked up, but they were still pissed off.

“Well, think of this way guys, at least you could have just failed at it. At least like this, we can still play and it doesn’t bring up any awkward questions as to why we have to cancel.” Butcher said, grabbing beers for them all.

“Someone’s bound to notice that we’re acting like each other sooner or later though.” William said.

“Trav and the guys know what happened, it’s just Hey Monday that we should worry about.” Sisky thought about it. “But I guess it’s better we’re not touring with Cobra or Panic.”

“Fuck, Jon would see right through us, and I bet Gabe and Nate would too.” William groaned. “What are we going to do if we can’t find the same brand of hot chocolate? What if we can’t find it again?”

“Yeah, very positive there Bill.” Sisky glared before heading to his bunk.

“Yeah, I’m really glad we aren’t touring with Panic. They would definitely see through you guys.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t realise yesterday.” William said.

A little while later, William went to Sisky’s bunk and stood in front. He called out Sisky’s name and waited for a reply. Sisky pulled back the curtain.

“Are you ok Sisky?” William asked. “Well, as well as you can be ok.”

Sisky looked at him and nodded. “I’d be even better if I didn’t keep bumping my head.” He gave a small smile. “But I’m kind of getting used to it now.”

“Yeah?” William smiled. Sisky nodded. “Look, Sisk, we’ll change back, then we can forget all about this, yeah?” Sisky nodded again. “I’ll see you in the morning, night.”

“Night.” The bassist said softly. William walked to his bunk while Sisky watched him and then closed his own bunk curtain.