Before It's Over

"Austin, you owe me twenty bucks!"

Kent's shout startled me out of my nap. I must have been out for a while, because the storm had passed and the rest of Kyle's band was pouring back into the bus. I sat up from Kyle's chest, embarrassed as the eyes of Kyle's band mates fell on us. Austin was fishing his wallet from the back pocket if his jeans. He pulled out two tens and handed them to Kent with a roll of his eyes.

"Thanks, man. Thanks to you too, Ave," Kent said with a smug smile as he headed towards the bunks for his after-set nap.

"I'm lost," I said, turning to look at Kyle with confused eyes.

"Austin lacks faith," Jonathan said, plopping down next to me on the couch. He threw his arm around my shoulder and smiled at me. "Kent took advantage of it. He knew you would say yes."

"You guys were betting on whether she'd say yes?!" Kyle exclaimed from next to me.

"Only Austin and Kent," Marc clarified.

"Austin, you doubt my charm?" Kyle asked, seemingly unbothered by the antics of his band mates.

"No, I just thought Avery was a little more stubborn."

"Thank God she isn't," Kyle laughed, turning to smile at me.

Jonathan removed his arms from my shoulders and stood from the couch. The band then went in every direction. Caleb, who had been silently smiling since he came through the bus door, headed into the bunk area. Jonathan started making something in the microwave. Marc, after congratulating Kyle for 'getting the girl,' took a seat across from us and starting texting. Austin, still bummed about losing twenty bucks took his scooter outside for a bit.

"Come on, Ave. I'll walk you back to your tent," Kyle offered.

He stood from the couch and offered me his calloused had. I took hold of his hand and stood from the couch, following Kyle of the bus and into the humid summer air.

"What d'you think my boys will have to say about this?" I asked as we strolled through the rows of buses, our hands swinging between us.

"Well, it's not hard to guess," Kyle said with a shrug. "Ross will be ecstatic, you should know that. Shane will happy for you, for us. Adam- well, I think Adam will be okay."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked looking at Kyle's face curiously. He smiled to the ground first, and then turned to flash me a smile.

"It's just that I get the feeling that Adam is just as protective of you as you think Aiden is," he explained.

"Speaking of my brother," I started as we entered the venue once again. "What do you think he'll have to say?"

"I don't really know. I think your brother is more open minded than you think."

Kyle and I walked hand and hand through Merch Avenue. Kyle seemed oblivious, but I was painfully aware of the thousands of eyes on us. I hadn't thought about whether I was comfortable with being out with Kyle in public, mostly because of the risks that come with it. People would talk. There would be buzz on every blog of every fan that saw us together. Was I ready for that?

"What about everyone else?" I asked, hoping that Kyle could help answer the former question.

"Like who?" He questioned as he turned to look down at me again.

"Everyone - your fans, mine, everyone on tour. There's gonna be talk about this Kyle. It's one of the reasons I won’t date musicians especially. Everything is at risk of becoming public and not personal."

As I expressed my fears to Kyle, he looked at me with the intensity I had seen in his eyes only half an hour ago on the bus. He listened and then took the time to think about his answer.

"Avery," he said, turning to stand in front of me and grabbing my other hand. "If you're worried about something, tell me. If you don't want everyone to know right away, that's fine with me. I have everything I want."

"No, it's fine. I'm just worried about what others will think. It's stupid."

Kyle smiled a half smile, though it looked just as amazing on him, and started back in the direction of The Forgetting Curve's merch tent. I followed, comforted by Kyle's words for the time being. I still didn't know how I would react to people finding out about us. Apparently, telling Adam and Ross would be a good test run. The two boys were unloading shirts from bins again, so I assumed that Ross arrived just in time to help Adam during the storm. Ross was the first to spot us, and his reaction was a bit more enthusiastic than I would have liked.

"HOLY SHIT! THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS!"

At his exclamation, all the people in the proximity of tent turned to watch him jump over the table and hurry to meet Kyle and me before we could reach the tent. I dropped Kyle's hand to brace myself for Ross' impact. My best friend launched himself at me and wrapped his arms tightly around my torso. Kyle laughed as Ross lifted me into the air and spun me around in circles, ignoring the fact that my heels were kicking people in the ankles. When Ross placed me back down, he beamed at me. I smiled shyly back at him.

"Well I guess there's no need to explain then," I said, starting towards the tent to help Adam.

"Are you kidding?" Adam asked hugging me across the merch table. "We need full details!"

Adam's gossiping never ceased to surprise me. I smiled at Kyle, asking for him to give Adam the details he wanted. Kyle smiled back, accepting my request, and I started unloading merch bins. Ross and Adam listened eagerly to Kyle while I attended to the merch.

"Well that was unnecessarily dramatic of you, Ave. Couldn't you have just said yes and given the guy a break for once?" Ross asked as he patted my back roughly when Kyle was finished.

"Avery never gave me a break before," Kyle said as he came to stand next to me. "Why should she start now?"

I humphed and hit Kyle in the stomach with the back of my hand. He only laughed and kissed me quickly on the cheek.

"I'll leave you to the work you love so much," he said against my cheek before giving my shoulders a quick squeeze and disappearing into the warped tour crowd.

"Alright," Ross said the moment Kyle was out of earshot. "Tell me everything now."

;;

I worked at the merch tent for the rest of the day, excluding time for our set and a catering dinner with Ross, Kyle and Jonathan. Apparently, news of two people agreeing to go out spread fast at Warped Tour. Kyle and I hadn't even gone a real date yet, we had hardly been together a day before people from numerous different bands were stopping at our table during dinner to talk to us about what was going on. Oliver Sykes, who I had only spoken to once between sets, had come to congratulate us.

"I mean it happened this afternoon! I haven't even told my own brother yet! It's not even a big deal! It's not like we're serious or something! We freaking just got together!"

I paced back and forth in between my van and Between the Tree's 15-passenger. Kyle was leaning up against the van's door, following my form with eyes. I shoved my hands deep into my pockets and stopped pacing in front of Kyle.

"You need to calm down, Ave. You're freaking me out. Besides, I'm sure Aiden already found out about it," Kyle said in an attempt to soothe my worries.

"Not helping," I said as I started pacing again. "If there's anyone that shouldn't hear about this through word of mouth, it's Aiden. He's gonna flip."

"Think about it, Ave. If he has found out, why hasn't he found you and flipped out already?"

"Maybe he didn't want to flip in front of lots of people. I've been in the tent all day and than catering is always crowded and-"

"Avery," Kyle cut in, grabbing my arm and pulling me to face him. "Maybe he just isn't going to freak out. I think you're misreading your brother."

I groaned and started pacing again. "Now you're starting to sound like Adam."

Kyle grabbed my arm again as I passed, but this time he stood in front of me. He leaned down to make our eyes level. I let out a breath slowly to calm down, but staring into Kyle's eyes made my heartbeat quicken. Kyle's calloused fingers rested on my shoulders and his warm breath was on my lips.

"Listen, Ave. You have nothing to worry about. We're gonna be fine. Everyone's going to simmer down. Your brother's not going to freak, and tomorrow, after your set, we're going out to lunch."

"We're going out to lunch?" I asked, suddenly forgetting that I was worrying about too many things. "Just you and me?"

"Just you and me," Kyle confirmed accompanied with a smile that made me weak in the knees. "I have to go now, bus call. Get some rest. You look exhausted."

I nodded and Kyle smiled again and kissed my forehead. He left in the direction of his bus and I pulled the van door open. Ross was already passed out in the front row, but the rest of my boys were no where to be found. I fished my phone out of my pocket and texted Shane for an explanation.

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I opened the text message to read that the guys had been searching for some lost power chords around the venue and were returning to the van now. I sighed with relief and crawled past Ross into the back of the van. I sprawled out and waited for the boys to pile into the van. Before they arrived, I received another text – this one from my brother.

I kno you're worried but im not angry. im happy u came to your senses. u can go to sleep.

I didn't know how Aiden would know that I was tired, but I didn't question it. Instead, content that Aiden wasn't going to freak out on me when he reached the van, I snuggled into my pillow. With the though of talking to Aiden about it tomorrow, I fell into a restless slumber.