Before It's Over

Apparently, Paramore was throwing themselves a 'Welcome to Tour!' party later that evening. So the boys of FTSK and, eventually, Kevin spent the next few hours doing various things. First, the guys explained to me what The Best Bunk Awards were. Then Kevin arrived and we were re-introduced. Once again, he insisted that I call him K Dirty. I didn't care to ask where he got the nickname. The guys seemed to scatter after that, taking respective places among bunks, the front lounge, the back lounge, and the space of empty lot in front of the bus. I moved about from place to place, chatting with everyone. I had been talking to Jonathan in front of the bus when he noticed the time. We both stood, gathered the rest of the guys, and headed in the direction of Paramore's bus.

;;

I was never one for parties. I disliked the smell of sweat mixed with alcohol, and drunken guys hitting on any girl they saw. Sure, I enjoyed a cold beer as much as any underage kid, but I never made an attempt to get myself wasted. The way the party had been going, I think I was the only one with that ideal.

Alex and Jack had already been through a package of beer each and party had been raging for just under an hour. Zack, who I just met that night, had turned out to be just as much a partier as his two band mates, if not more.

"Hey, Al," I called from across the beer pong table.

The gray beanie Alex was wearing shot up and his eyes met mine from across the table. He smiled a lazy smile and stood from his lawn chair. He patted Rian, who I also met that night, on the shoulder as he passed and came to watch the match next to me.

"What's up, Ave?" Alex's words were a tad bit slurred. I guess his body was getting used his excessive alcohol intake.

"I don't know, just wanted someone to talk to," I said with a shrug of my shoulders.

"Where's your stalker?" he asked, referring to Kyle.

"I got Jonathan to steal him away for a while," I replied, an accomplished grin spreading across my lips.

"Hey, what about the rest of your band? Where are they? I haven't seen Ross all day."

Over the past few days, Ross had spent a good amount of time with the boys of All Time Low. It was beneficial to everyone involved in my opinion. Ross made new friends, I got a break from his Kyle harassment, the ATL boys had someone new to party with, and the band had a happy vocalist. It was nice to know that Ross was able to get someone to hang out with while I was busy with merch. He often got bored waiting for me to give up my post at the tent.

"Ross is around here somewhere. You know he's waiting for Kyle to jump me or something." I paused as Alex laughed too loud. "Adam's with Josh and Jeremy, over there. I think Shane is picking up his girlfriend from the airport."

"Just in time too!"

"Just in for what?" I asked.

"I think it's just a coincidence, but this weekend must be weekend of the girlfriends. Me and Rian's girlfriends are coming in tomorrow," Alex said. "Caleb just told Jack that his and Austin's girlfriends are coming, Travis Clark's is, and so are a bunch of others. This tour is gonna be flooded with significant others next week."

"Great," I grumbled.

"What's so bad about that? I thought you'd like the influx of girls on the tour."

"No, it's not that. Kyle's coming."

Alex's mouth made and 'o' shape and he slid off in the direction of Adam Siska., another bassist I was too afraid to approach. Kyle was walking briskly across the fire-lit lot and his face held an excited smile. The way his pale face looked in the fire light made my stomach flutter. Then I was confused. Why had I reacted like that?

"Hey, Ave," He greeted, widening his smile. "What were you and Alex talking about?"

"The surplus of girlfriends coming this weekend."

It was in that moment that I realized that Kyle might have a girlfriend. Sure, he was flirting with me, but that doesn't mean anything. Travis had said Kyle was a flirt. Was he a flirt with a girlfriend? As I asked myself that question, another popped into my mind. Why did I care?

"Oh yeah, I heard about that. Funny, huh? Are your band mates bringing any girlfriends?" Kyle asked.

He silently motioned to two empty lawn chairs. We walked to them and sat down. Kyle scooted his chair closer to mine and I leaned away slightly.

"Yeah, Shane's girlfriend Norah is visiting for a few days." I answered Kyle's previous question.

"You wanna know what I just realized?" Kyle asked, sitting back in his chair with a contented and slightly smug smile gracing his face.

"Even if I didn't, you would tell me."

Kyle chuckled and his eyes lit up. I felt my heart jump a bit. What was wrong with me today? Kyle brushed his hair out of his eyes and turned his head to look at me meaningfully. I gave him a questioning look, confused as to why he was taking so long to explain himself. He just smiled again and turned his head forward again, in the direction of the growing bonfire. I turned too and watched the flames lick the air, but Kyle spoke again quickly.

"This is, like, our first real conversation."

Kyle turned to smile at me again and I smiled back. Content with that, Kyle turned back to the fire, the smile still on his lips. The second time he spoke he didn't look at me, but my eyes remained on his mouth.

"We've never really talked. Ya know? Normally it's just me pestering you."

"Ain't that the truth!"

At the sound of my chuckled response, Kyle's smile faltered a bit before being replaced by a determined expression. "I am capable of civil conversation," he said.

I turned in my chair to face Kyle, and he did the same to me. Kyle's face now held a playful glare, and I stared back at him with feigned skepticism.

"I find that hard to believe," I said tauntingly.

"Well, I am," Kyle said with a 'humph' as he crossed his arms in a childish manner. "I'll prove it to you. What do you wanna talk about?"

For some reason I took Kyle's question seriously and put some thought into my answer. "Let's talk about you, Kyle," I said, instantly regretting my words. They sounded like a better idea in my head.

No Kyle. No Kyle. No Kyle. How many times would I have to remind myself of that? Getting to know Kyle on a closer level was definitely the opposite of 'no Kyle.' However, the words had already escaped from my mouth, and there was no taking them back. It was times like these I wished I had magic powers, so I could make Kyle forget he ever met me and then this conversation wouldn't happen.

"Here you know all these things about me, and I know nothing about you."

"I'm shocked," Kyle pressed his palm against his chest and contorted his face in surprise for dramatic effect. "Avery Goodman wants to get to know me, the bane of her existence?"

"Believe me, Kyle, you are not the bane of my existence. Ross is just as pestering as you are, if not more. And what happened to civil conversation? I don't think sarcasm would be classified as civil."

Kyle's smile returned. "Like you have room to talk. You’re the most sarcastic person on the tour! Besides, I've decided I no longer want to have a civil conversation with you. I'd much rather it be a friendly one." Kyle nodded his head matter-of-factly at the end of his statement for finality.

"And what brought about this decision?" I asked.

"Because acquaintances have civil conversations. Friends have friendly conversations."

Friends. Why did that word seem so harmless coming from Kyle's mouth? Why did it seem so perfect? I didn't know how to respond so I simply nodded. Kyle seemed to get this hopeful smile on his face.

"You nodded," Kyle said, staring at me with the same optimistic expression.

"That I did."

"You practically agreed with me!"

"I didn't agree to anything!"

"You agreed that we were friends!"

"I agreed that friends had friendly conversations, not that we were friends, actually. Now you're twisting my words around."

"But you nodded, you didn't say anything."

Frustrated, yet still slightly amused, I let out a groan and pulled at the long strands of my hair. Kyle only laughed at our bantering and my frustration. I shot him a glare, but his smile remained.

"I have a proposition."

"Oh great," I said, plopping my head into my upturned hand. "What is it, Kyle?"

"You are so hell-bent on making sure we're not friends," he started. I nodded, telling him to continue. "Well, just spend the rest of the party with me - not Travis, or Alex, or Ryan-"

"You know Ryan? He's here?" I asked, cutting off Kyle's sentence.

"Yes, I know Ryan, and, yes, he's here. That's not important though. Just spend the rest of the party with me. We'll talk and play a game of beer pong. We'll have fun. Just do that and then tell me that you can't be friends with me, that you wouldn't care if I never came to your tent to ask you stupid questions." Kyle paused as I let out a quiet giggle, before continuing with a smile. "That you wouldn't want to come to another of our sets, anything like that."

"And when would I make my decision?" I asked, a smile playing on my lips.

"Tomorrow, after doors close. I'll come help you put your tent away. You can tell me then."

"Alright, Burns," I said, sticking my hand out towards Kyle." You've got yourself a deal."

Kyle took my hand and shook it, his hopeful smile reaching a climax. "Alright, Goodman. Be warned. By the end of the night, I will replace Ross as your best friend."

At the time I agreed to Kyle's proposition I must have been mentally unstable. His warning was nothing compared to the events that took place that night on the lot next to Paramore's bus.

Kyle and I talked. We talked about everything we could think to talk about. Kyle's intellect was much deeper than I had expected, which was refreshing on a tour filled with immature boys. Contrastingly, Kyle could make me laugh in an instant. His initial personality was that of a sarcastic, teenage boy, but it seemed to have a complimentary factor to my rather mature character. Against that mature character, Kyle eventually pulled me over to the beer pong table, where I kicked his ass on my first try. Discontented, and rather tired, Kyle pulled my tipsy form away from the table. The final hours of the party were spent watching Austin do tricks on his scooter in silence.

As Kyle and I walked away from the party, tired and drunk, my mind wandered to thoughts I dreaded. Kyle wasn't so bad. In fact, I think I liked Kyle very much by the end of that night. I shook the thoughts from my head as Kyle smiled drunkenly down at me. I was extremely aware of his arm supporting me at my waist and how close our legs were as we shuffled through the rows of buses. All of this seemed minuscule, however, as I tried to push away the thought of Kyle's lips on mine.