Daylight

Pet’s POV

After our breakfast with Ray and Shoshi, I walked back to the bus alone while everyone else went to check out the local town that was attached to the latest Warped site.
The desert air was stifling. I was starting to really hate these fairgrounds. They were dusty and stupidly hot, with almost no shade, in most cases. If they could’ve put us in more remote places for shows, I didn’t see how that would have been possible.
As I approached our bus, I saw a slight figure in black jeans and bright t-shirt, having a smoke near the door. I could see it was a guy who looked vaguely familiar. As I got closer, he flipped his unruly yellowy-blonde hair around, threading his fingers into it, and I got a better look at his face.

Holy shit…it was Gerard Way.

My breathing increased, but I kept my walking pace the same. I mean, really, what would you do if an insane fangirl came running up to you suddenly? You’d freak, that’s what. So I tried to stay as casual as possible, pretending that meeting one of my all-time favorite musicians was no big deal.
Ha ha.

When I reached the bus, he turned and looked at me. “Hey,” he said, the cigarette still dangling from his lips.
Holy shit again, he was gorgeous, even with his hair bleached yellow.
“Hey,” I responded after much concentration, “how are you?”
“Great, except for this heat,” he replied. “I don’t know how we stood it when we were on Warped. I can’t believe I used to wear that stupid bulletproof vest thing…Well,” he glanced around at the buses and tents, “I guess you do what you have to, right? Oh, sorry; I’m Gerard Way. And you must be…”
“Petula Langley,” I finished for him, “with the Daylight Bathers.”
He shook my hand after tossing his cigarette away. “Shame on me,” he grinned, “littering. Ah well. Think anybody’d notice?”
I shrugged. “Probably not.”
He rubbed his hands together. “Listen, I get like three smokes a day, but I gotta have another one. I guess your bus is non-smoking?”
“Yeah, that’s right.” My heartbeat had slowed to a normal level.
“Well, don’t stand out here waiting for me,” he offered. “I’ll be there in a couple minutes. Go cool off.”
I gratefully entered the bus and flopped down on one of the couches. It was so quiet, it was almost eerie. I closed my eyes and tried not to think, but in a minute I discovered I wasn’t alone.
First I heard what sounded like the squeal of a baby. I sat up and concentrated.
Yeah, there it was again: definitely a baby. Then I heard a woman’s voice, low-pitched, laughing at the baby noise.
Who…?
A head of dark hair, gathered into ponytails, poked out from the back hallway. “Hey,” said the woman, smiling at me. Of course: it was Lyn-Z.
Oh shit, too much excitement all at once. Mrs Gerard Way then came walking down our bus hallway, carrying a beautiful little girl, about a year old.
“I’m Lindsey,” she said unnecessarily, “and I’d shake your hand but,” she indicated the baby with her chin, “I just got finished changing her. Where’s the bathroom?”
This was surreal. “Um, it’s actually up front,” I said.
Lindsey walked up to me and handed off the baby. “Would you mind? I can’t hold her and wash my hands at the same time. I promise I’ll be quick.”
“Sure.” I accepted the baby and she stretched her arms out for her mom as she walked away. She started to fuss, but I bounced her a little and jingled my keys at her. She made a swipe for them and I sat us down on the nearest couch.
Lindsey came back from the ladies’ and sat down next to me. The baby reached for her again and she took her back from me.
I wove my finger into a tiny dark curl. “And this must be…?”
“This is Bandit,” she answered, running a hand through the baby’s hair as well. “And I’m sorry, I don’t remember your name, Gerard told me….”
“It’s Petula Langley,” I responded, blushing a little.
“Great name.”
I rolled my eyes. “Not if you had to grow up with it. But I got used to it. Made me tough,” I grinned.
Bandit reached out her chubby little arms to me, probably because I still had my keys. Her mother allowed her to sit in my lap again, watching while she tried to grab the keys and make noise with them herself.
“She sure is a beauty,” I remarked, bouncing the baby on my knee again.
“We like her,” Lindsey grinned. “Don’t tell my husband, but I think I’m gonna keep her.”
“Don’t tell me what?” Gerard’s cheerful voice came from the front of the bus. “And where are you guys, anyway? Where’s my baby girl?”

Bandit perked up at her dad’s voice. “Da-da-da-da-da,” she chanted as he came into view. He beamed and picked her up off my lap. He swung her carefully in the tiny space, then brought her to his eye level again, rubbing her nose with his so that she giggled.
“What a pretty girl you are,” he said with love in his voice. Lindsey watched them both, smiling herself. It felt weird, like I was intruding on a private moment, even though they were on our bus. This was reinforced when Gerard bent his head to his wife. I turned my head and looked out the bus window briefly, hearing them kiss, and then I heard Gerard’s voice: “Ow! Shiii…no, honey, don’t pull Daddy’s hair. It hurts!”
Lindsey let go that low-pitched laugh again. “She’s just jealous,” she commented.
Gerard gave Bandit back to her mom. “Maybe,” he said, massaging his scalp. “But I’d really like to keep the hair I’ve got for as long as possible.”
I spoke up. “It’s a stage they go through. It passes…eventually.”
Gerard sat down next to me. “Good to know. So, let’s talk. You wanted to know about Brian, how he works, all that, right?”
“Yeah,” I answered, leaning back. “We were so surprised when our manager said she knew him. Said they went to high school together.”
“That’s what Brian told me, too,” Gerard mused. “Well, anyway, Brian’s cool. I don’t think he has too much experience with female artists, though. Just about everyone he deals with right now is a guy. Except for his wife, of course.”
I smiled. “Do you think we’ll need an interpreter?”
Gerard cackled. “Nah, I just think you should be very clear with him as to what you need, and what you expect. He’ll do pretty much anything for the bands he manages: deal with the record company, help you with press releases, handle damage control if necessary, or help you change your schedule if you need it. That can come in handy sometimes.” He looked over at his wife and daughter.
“What about Warner Brothers?” I asked.
Gerard leaned back in his seat. “Well, I’d be lying to you if I said they weren’t hard-asses sometimes. All record companies are, at some point. But Brian made sure they treated us fairly,” he assured me. Then he smiled again. “And of course, you’d be in good company: Green Day, Taking Back Sunday, even The Used…and us, of course…would all be label-mates. Not such a bad deal. I hear Warners even got you guys this bus.”
I looked around. “Yeah, it’s okay, if you don’t mind having ten minutes’ worth of hot water every day,” I joked.
“All their buses are like that. I can’t imagine why,” Gerard grinned.
Lindsey cut in. “Maybe they think dirty music sounds better than clean music,” she remarked, giggling.
“That would almost make sense,” her husband responded, “but I think most women prefer being clean. Just puttin’ it out there, Linds.”
She cocked her head. “Are you saying I’m not clean, Way?”
He raised his hands in mock surrender. “Ah, he—heck no, honey. You’re the cleanest person I know. Aside from the baby, I mean.”
Lindsey looked at me. “He only says that because he doesn’t change her as much as I do. She can be pretty dirty,” she advised her husband.
“Oh, I know, I know,” he answered her. I guessed that this phrase was his version of “Yes, dear.”
Lindsey frowned for the first time since I’d met her. Gerard met her eyes with a similar look on his face.
For some odd reason, it was all I could do to keep from laughing as they looked seriously at each other. It was like there was gonna be an argument, but there was no real tension in the air, just silence. Even the baby was quiet, watching her mom and dad.
Then Lindsey cracked up, apparently unable to maintain even fake anger at Gerard. He laughed too, rocking back and forth on the couch. He took Bandit back from his wife and she giggled uncontrollably.

We were talking comfortably some time later when my friends came back from their little excursion. All talking at once, Tia, Mo and Sal crowded onto the bus—and stopped dead when they saw our guests.
Mo opened her mouth as if to scream, but Tia clapped a hand over it. Sal’s eyes were bigger than I’d ever seen them. She looked wildly around at me and said in a shaky voice, “Pet—a word, please? Alone?”
I got up and strode towards the bunks with Sal following. Tia and Mo were apparently frozen in place, staring at the little Way family. It would’ve been funny, except I knew they’d be thinking it was anything but.
Once we’d reached the back of the bus, Sal hissed, “Is that—is that Gerard and Lindsey Way here on our bus?”
I nodded, not sure if I’d be able to not burst out laughing if I spoke.
“How long have they been here?” Now Sal just looked angry.
Oh shit, now I’d have to talk. “I dunno,” I murmured back, “maybe an hour or a little more. I wasn’t really checking the time.”
Sal shot a quick look at the front of the bus. “Jesus God, Pet, when the fuck were you gonna tell us they were here? After they left?”
“You guys were out somewhere,” I pointed out.
“We had our cell phones!”
I rolled my eyes; this was stupid. “Look, Sal, I didn’t know they were all coming here,” I whispered urgently. “I would never keep something like that from you guys, if I’d known, which I didn’t. So take it easy. Let’s go back and I’ll introduce you.”

When we got back to where the Ways were sitting, Tia and Mo were, in fact, frozen where we’d left them.
“Tia,” I suggested, struggling again not to laugh, “I think you can let go of Mo now.”
“I’m gonna remove my hand, Mo,” our drummer said slowly, “but you have to promise you won’t scream, got it?”
Mo nodded. Tia relaxed and Mo took a deep breath. “Thanks,” she told me. “It’s nice to breathe again.”
Tia grimaced and murmured an apology.
Then all my bandmates looked at me, as did the Ways. Awkward!
“Gerard and Lindsey,” I began, blushing a little, “meet the rest of the Daylight Bathers: Mo, Tia, and Sal. As you might’ve guessed, we’re all a little overwhelmed.”
Bandit waved her little arms around, and I took her off Gerard’s lap. My friends all cooed at her, and she giggled again, pleased at the attention of all those strangers.
This seemed to break the tension, and everyone finally relaxed.
I thought I could see the word babysitter in Lindsey’s eyes when she watched us with Bandit. It was pretty funny.

The rest of the afternoon went well. When we said goodbye, the Ways promised to come see us the following night (sadly, without the baby) and introduce us to some other members of MCR. I thought Sal’s brain, in particular, might implode from the excitement, but I didn’t say anything.