Happiness and Heartbreak

“Yeah, come on. I’m going to grab a set list for today too. You promised Natalie that you’d go and see Escape The Fate.” Alex said, running to find a list.

“Oh yeah! I had forgotten already actually.” I laughed.

Together, me, Alex, and two merch guys set the tent up and stacked up the merchandise boxes inside. Then, we walked back to the bus.

“Thanks for putting up with my shit.” I told Alex, giving him a hug.

“That’s what I’m here for, sis.”

When we got back inside the tour bus, we ate a snack and grabbed a drink, Rian played me in a game of Left 4 Dead on x-box and I killed him. By that time, it was getting close to when we had to be off the bus and outside.

The day dragged on until around two o’clock. Then, Natalie came and found me.

“Hey! Are you ready?” She asked, tossing me a water bottle.

“Yeah, and thanks for the water.”

“No problem, it gets really hot inside the pit so I figured I’d go ahead and grab me and you both water, we’ll need them.”

We linked arms and walked off to Escape the Fate’s set, Alex watching as we ran off. He was just glad that his sister was finally having a good time. Natalie and I got to the set an hour early, but we got to back behind the stage and see the guys before they played.

“Craigafer, we have a guest!” Natalie said, coming around the corner to where the guys where currently sitting.

“Her name is Catie.” She said, smiling and pushing me in front of her.

I was greeted by a chorus of hello’s and hi from the four boys.

“Hi, I’m Max, and this is Craig, Robert and Brian.”

“Hey.”

“So what are you doing on this Warped Tour?” Craig asked, standing up.

“Oh, I’m working the merch booth for All Time Low until they start recording their new CD.”

“That’s cool. So do you know the guys?”

“Yeah, I grew up with them. Alex is my older brother.”

“Wow, ok cool. Oh, hey, where did Leila go?” Craig said, starting to get worried.

“Who’s Leila?”

“Craig’s four year old daughter,” Max said, standing up and looking around as Craig sprinted off. “She’s touring with us until we reach Arizona. Then, she’s going to stay with her mom for a while.”

“That’s really cool. It’s nice that she gets to spend time with her dad while he’s doing what he does best.”

“Yeah, Craig loves her to death.” Natalie said, laughing as Craig came back holding the little girls hand and scolding her for leaving.

Leila just gave her dad a pout and said sorry, and then she was being thrown into the air as Craig picked her up, swinging her around. It was an adorable sight to see.

“Ok guys we go on soon and Kevin offered to watch Leila today so let’s start practicing.” Brian said, grabbing his guitar.

With that, the boys all jumped up and Craig gave his daughter a kiss on the cheek, sending her off with ‘Mr. Kevin’. Natalie and I returned to the front of the stage and worked our way through the crowd to get closer to the speakers. The band got out onstage, and the show was a pure adrenaline rush. It was amazing. Afterwards, I remembered that I should probably be making my way back to the merchandise booth. I told everyone bye, and Natalie said that she would come see me later.

As I made my way back to the booth, I ran into the last person that I felt like talking to after last night. Jonathan.

“Hey Cate! How’s it going?” He asked, walking over to me and wrapping me in a hug.

“Uh, hey Jonathan, nothing much really. I’m on my way back from seeing Escape the Fate.”

“So, about what happened last night. Look, I don’t want to be too open about it, but I really like you Catie. I was wondering if maybe you wanted to hang out later tonight.”

“Jonathan, I’m really sorry, and I don’t want you to be angry or upset with me or anything, but I’m really confused right now. I’m going to need some time to think before I go out with anyone. I’m not quite sure I’m ready to give up on Jack yet, and I feel absolutely horrible because I like you, but in all honesty, and I’m not trying to sound like a tease or a bitch, but I love Jack. What do you say to being friends for now Jonathan?”

“Yeah, I understand. I knew it was probably a lost cause, but I tried. I get where you’re coming from though, and I hope Jack realizes what he has. He’s an incredibly lucky guy, and if he waits around too long he may regret it.”

I gave Jonathan a hug, and said my goodbye. I was on my way to talk to Alex.

“Hey sis,” he said, as I walked up, he was currently talking to some fans, “What’s up?”

“Nothing much. I need to talk to you later. I decided what I’m going to do.”

“Oh, wow. Ok, are you giving Jon a chance? Did he ask you out? I want to know right now!” He said, suddenly excited and excused himself from talking to the girls after he took some pictures, and ran up to meet me beside the All Time Low tent.

“So what happened?”

“Well, Jonathan asked me out. But I told him no.”

“What? Why did you say no?”

“I said it because I’m not ready to move on yet, Alex. Every time I even think about having a new relationship, I think about all of the summers and nights I spent with Jack, just laying outside under the stars talking, most of the time laughing, and I think of all the nights that we were always out late, having fun, being kids. I’m not ready for those days to be over. I know it’s wrong to live in the past, but I’m not ready to face the future.”

“Cate, come here,” Alex opened his arms and pulled me into a hug, “It will all get better, I promise.”

“Thanks, hey do I have time to run back to the bus?”

“Yeah, sure you do. You can take the rest of the day off if you want. The guys have it covered for you.”

“I might take you up on the offer. I’m really tired.”

“Then go, grab a nap in your bunk or something.”

“Ok, bye Alex.”

“Bye, Catie”

I walked back to the bus, kicking up gravel as I went and watching it fly a few feet in front of me. Then, I heard someone fall into step beside me. It was Jack and Kyle, walking and talking together.