Before It's Over

After our chat out by the buses, Kyle and I headed back in the direction of FTSK's bus. I was cramped for time. The sun was down and I never drove well at night. I doubted I would be able to make the two hour journey back home.

"So, the guys and me have a Denny's All-nighter tonight, Ave," Kyle said as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his shorts. "You wanna come? They're loads of fun."

I contemplated the decision as weaved in between buses. If I went to the all-nighter, I would never make it home. I would be way too tired to drive and no one could give me a lift. I expressed my concerns to Kyle, who waved his hand with a 'pshh!' and said that he would get me home. I had forgotten warped had a day off tomorrow and most would spend it in Dallas. Kyle didn't explain exactly how he was going to get me home, but I didn't push the subject because the truth was that I wanted to hang out with the guys.

Apparently, they were happy to spend some time with me too. I was greeted excitedly by all the guys who had returned to the bus now that doors had closed. The ruckus created wasn't as extreme as our first meeting, but it was still a ruckus. Ashley and Braen were added to the mix of people in the bus and I was finally introduced to CiCi, who worked the merch stand for FTSK.

"So I thought you guys were gonna be off for the Texas dates," CiCi said as our group filed out of the bus and into the Denny's parking lot.

Behind us, fans were flowing from cars. They mixed with our group and the guys started conversations of their own. Jonathan headed our small crowd of people.

"Oh, we are," I said. "Kyle just decided to invite me to hang out and I had nothing better to do, so…"

"Hey!" Kyle shouted from a few feet ahead of me. "You make it sound like you didn't really want to come and see me!"

Braen laughed loudly as she came up along side of me and draped her arm around my shoulder. She was taller than me, and if she wanted to, she could use my head as the perfect armrest.

"Of course she didn't want to see you! It's me she wanted to hang with!" Braen shouted at Kyle who we were now growing closer to, seeing as he had stopped in his place to shout playfully at me.

"Sorry, Kyle," I said, putting on a fake apologetic frown. "Braen and me are like this."

I held up my pointer finger and middle finger wrapped around each other. Kyle's lip jutted out in an exaggerated frown. It reminded me of Kent's impersonation of him earlier that day and giggled at the memory.

"Look! See. Now she's laughing at me!" Kyle cried to some girls as they passed by him.

The girls seemed confused, but continued walking and caught the door behind Jonathan. Kyle, Braen and I followed, not wanting to be left outside. When we entered, the place was already packed with people.

;;

After a period of eating dinner with the band, except for a few period of time when a few of them would get up to interact with fans, Jonathan stood atop one of the booths with his glass and a fork. On his head was perched a blue foam Cowboys hat I hadn't noticed him bring in. He tapped his glass, gaining everyone's attention, before speaking.

"We have an awful waffle coming! We're gonna load whatever food on it you want to and we're gonna eat it. Okay? I'll let you know when it gets here, and thank you to Denny's for doing this." The crowd cheered again and Jonathan continued, "Give it up! Give it up! Give it up! Give it up!"

I turned to Ashley, who I had previously been conversing with. Ashley was a pretty girl with a nice personality. How she put up with Austin as a boyfriend, I had no idea. She did seem to cope well enough with his strangeness, though. Perhaps she was secretly as goofy once you really got to know her.

"What's an awful waffle?" I inquired as Ashley took a sip from her soda.

Ashley put the glass back down, pushed some of her hair behind her ear and said, "The awful waffle is basically-" She paused to giggle after Austin kissed her hair quickly as he walked by. "It's basically a waffle piled with anything the fans pile onto it. The guys try making it as gross as possible."

"Then people volunteer to eat it!" Braen said over the many voices in the restaurant from her place across our table.

As if her words were a summoning charm, Jonathan began yelling that everyone was to bring food to put on the awful waffle. Ashley, Braen and I stood and moved towards the large group of people crowded around a single table. Ashley and Braen stayed a few feet behind the crowd, but I was interested so I stood on a booth behind Marc and close enough to the table.

"More toppings! Not a lot of toppings, though!" Kyle shouted from his place a foot away from Marc.

As kids piled left-over food and toppings, choruses of 'ewww' and 'gross' erupted from around the small table. Austin, Jonathan and Kyle egged the fans on, trying to get even more horrible toppings. The chaos continued until Jonathan asked for three people to ear it. The silence, however, only lasted until he stopped speaking.

The noise reached a peak when Austin screamed, "Who's got the first bite!"

Hands shot up into the air and screams of 'me!' and 'here!' broke out. Quickly, a girl who had previously gotten Jonathan's attention was being chanted on.

"Misty! Misty!" the crowd cheered.

I had to lean on Marc's shoulder, accidentally pushing him forward and into Kyle. Just over Kyle's tuft of blonde hair, I could see the girl take the loaded fork from Austin and shove the large piece into her mouth. The crowed 'Ohhhh'ed and I leaned up from Marc's shoulder as he jumped on Kyle, pushing him into the table with a smile.

Two more girl's took turns tasting the pile of muck they called the awful waffle; the last one even had to spit her lump back out. There was a pause in action and Kyle turned around to face me.

As he squeezed past Marc he spoke, "Ave, can you pass me the salt on that table?"

I turned, still standing on the seat of the booth and bent down to grab salt shaker off the table. Turn back to Kyle again and handed him the salt.

"Having fun?" Kyle asked, taking his time to pull the salt from my fingers.

"Loads!" I said loudly, over the latest outbreak of noise. "Do you guys do this at every after party?"

Kyle nodded. "You wanna try it?"

I shook my head vigorously. Kyle smiled at me quickly before he turned and squeezed his way back to the table. As Kyle started shaking the salt onto the waffle a very smart fan - who will now be my favorite at the Dallas date – began chanting Kyle's name. The chant caught on quickly, even Marc and I joined in. I watched as Kyle's head rose slowly from looking down at the plate. The next thing I knew he was pushing his way quickly through the crowd back in my direction.

He reached out his hand, trying to grasp my arm, muttering 'no, no, no, no' over and over again. I moved my arm away quickly and watched as Marc and tall boy playfully pushed him back into the table. I rocked slightly on impact and the crowd joined in on Kyle's 'Ohhhhhhh!'

He turned around to face the table and Austin held a forkful of awful waffle high in the air. Kyle gave in and took the fork from his band mate's hand. I jumped down from the booth and weaseled my way through the crowd. I wanted to get a good view of this. I stood right behind Kyle, but he was so tall that I could see over his shoulder. I touched his arm and he turned to smile at me. He backed up a little, forming a break in the crowd big enough to get me a good side view.

A climax happened as the crowd chanted 'Do it! Do it!' louder than they had been all night. Kyle seemed to brace him self before shoving the fork into his mouth and biting off the waffle as quickly as possible. He backed up again and I giggled at the face he made while he was chewing. He looked completely revolted, but tried very hard to chew and swallow the glob in his mouth.

"He's puking! He's puking!" Marc said from his place on a booth seat.

A fan shoved a plate under Kyle's face and he grabbed it eagerly. I had to turn away as he spit the awful waffle back out onto the plate.

;;

Braen was obviously rubbing off on me, because I noticed myself laughing to loudly at Austin after trip over the curb. Fans had began filing out of Denny's an hour ago, and seeing as we were the only people of the Warped after party left, the boys decided it was time to head off. I thought it was a great idea. I had no idea what time it was, but I could tell it was late because my censors had been taking down a long time ago. I tend to act a bit toocrazy much like myself when I'm sleep deprived.

"Hey, Kyle! How the fuck am I getting back home?" I asked as I skipped to catch up with him. "Your goddamn legs are too fucking long."

"Thanks for that very obvious observation, Ave," Kyle said with a chuckle. "Me and Jonathan are gonna drive you home."

"Why's Jonathan coming?"

"Hey!"

I laughed too loudly again. "Sorry Jonathan. You're my favorite!"

"Hey!"

"Is there no way to please all of you at the same time?" I shouted in exasperation, throwing my arms into the air.

"That's what she said!" Austin exclaimed before bursting into a fit of laughter, which everyone joined.

"Jonathan's driving your car back to your house. Then he's riding back with me," Kyle explained after we had calmed down and were back on the bus.

I must have fallen asleep, because it seemed as though not five minutes later Kyle was shaking my arm softly.

"Hey," Kyle whispered as my eyes fluttered open. "We're back at the venue. Jonathan needs your keys."

I leaned up from the couch in the front lounge and rubbed my eyes. I stood, wobbling a bit at first, and then fished my keys out of the pocket of my jacket. Kyle took them from me and headed out of the bus, probably to give Jonathan my keys. I laid back down on the couch again.

Kyle re-entered the bus and took a seat on the couch across from me. His knees stick out into the aisle and obscure my view of Kyle's face. My eyes were only half open in sleepiness. Kyle leaned forward, resting his forearms on his elbows. He was quiet and I realized that he thought I'd fallen asleep again. I closed my eyes all the way. Kyle was silent for a while, but then I heard him sigh. He kneeled down on the floor in front of me and gently pushed some of my raven hair behind my ear. I heard him sigh again, stand, and walk back into the bunk area. My eyes shoot open in the darkness and I knew I wouldn't be falling asleep again tonight.