Before It's Over

The venue was hot. And the thick crowd didn't make it any better. As Kyle headed towards the Skull Candy Mix tent, I asked myself why I was tolerating this. I told myself early on that there would be no distractions on tour. Sure, I could party a bit, but that was for after doors had closed. I shouldn't be going to an acoustic set to hang out with a drummer. I shouldn't be leading on a guy. But here I was, dangling from the shoulder of Kyle Burns on the way to watch his band's acoustic set.

"Avery!"

My head swiveled to my left, where Kyle's voice was closest. There wasn't a huge crowd yet, just a couple people sitting on the blacktop in front of the tent. The rest of FTSK was setting up mic stands or tuning guitars. I immediately realized that I hadn't officially met the rest of the band. The thought made me nervous for some reason. Kyle would introduce me, I knew, but I didn't know if he would do that before or after the set. I must have been staring into space, because Kyle called my name again.

"Avery, were here!"

I snapped back to the real world and Kyle started toward the tent. I couldn't help but notice the numerous sets of eyes on Kyle and I now; eyes that belonged to kids waiting for the set to start and eyes that belonged to Kyle's band mates. I tried to ignore them as I was placed on the ground and aloud to walk upright the rest of the way to the tent. Kyle walked backwards ahead of me with a smile – I could feel my heart beat faster – then grabbed my wrist gently. He lead me over to where his band mates stood, looking at me with curiosity.

"Guys," he started, pulling me next to him and wrapping an arm around my shoulder. "This is Avery. She's in that band me and Kent saw yesterday, the Forgetting Curve. Avery, these are the guys."

I waved at the five boys with confidence. Like I said before, I like meeting people in larger groups. The boys returned my greeting with smiles and a few 'hey, Avery's.

"This is Marc," Kyle said, pointing to the guitarist closest to us.

His hair was dark, long and curly, and I knew that it would be hard for anyone else to pull that style off. He wore a simple black graphic tee and gray shorts. He gave me a friendly wave and returned to tuning his guitar.

"This is Caleb," Kyle said, pointing to the red head next in the row.

Caleb gave off the same impression that Adam would: very kind. His eyes held the same sparkle Adam's did. He was cute, with styled, carrot top hair and a red and blue striped tee shirt. I smiled and gave him a polite 'hello.'

"Down there, that's Kent," Kyle stated, nodding his head toward the young man sitting at the end of the row of chairs.

He too held a guitar in his hand. His hair was dark blond with natural looking lowlights. He wore a white graphic tee and black pants. Kent smiled, a friendly smile, and waved. I would have returned the smile if a new face hadn't jumped I front of me.

"Hi pretty lady! I'm Jonathan," the new face said.

Jonathan's brown hair peeked out from under his red cap. His chin was scruffy and his lips were spread in a smile. His smile was childish and wide, not as amazing as Kyle's, but a good smile all the same. His eyes were hidden by a pair of sunglasses, but I could almost see the shape of them through the lenses.

"Hi, Jonathan," I greeted. Jonathan stepped away from me and his place was taken up by the band member I knew to Austin.

"Hey Avery. I'm Austin, bassist extraordinaire!"

"Hi."

"Alright," Kyle clapped his hands together. "Now that that's over with…"

Kyle grabbed my wrist and led me towards the back of the tent where a small Asian guy sat next to large black man. The rest of the guys took their seats at the front of the tent, aside from Jonathon who remained standing in front of his chair, microphone in hand. The guys shifted in the wooden chairs to get comfortable.

"Alright," Caleb said into the microphone.

"So we'll go whenever ya'll scream and let us know you're ready." Jonathan's statement was responded to immediately as the crowd screamed. "I think they're ready."

The guys then hurried into their first song. The crowd response was amazing. They sang along to every word. It wasn't hard to see why. Forever the Sickest Kids put on a great show, even an acoustic one. They were so energetic; especially Jonathan, who repeatedly took a step back and stood on his chair, leaning over the crowd in front of him.

At the end of the second verse, Jonathon turned and waved to me quickly. Kyle laughed from his spot next to me as I returned one just before her turned around and went into the chorus.

I've got friends in highly low places.
It's been a long time.
It's been a long time.

"Hey Robi!" Kyle called just loud enough so the crowd couldn't hear. The large black man I'd seen earlier turned to Kyle with a questioning glace. "Maybe you should get some shots in?"

'Robi' nodded and I watched as he went to the far side of the tent. He returned with a black video camera in his hands.

"Robi's our manager," Kyle explained as we watched Robi turn on the camera and begin filming the guys.

I simply nodded and turned my attention back to the set, where the guys were starting a new song.

Hey, Brittany,
why are you messing with me?
Is your boy in your mind?
Is your boy in the car,
or are you alone?

"Avery," Kyle said, trying to get my attention.

I was confused. I was being horrible to Kyle. I was blowing him off, ignoring him the best I could. I had avoided him all day and yet he wasn't the least bit peeved. Even as I was ignoring his attempts at getting my attention, his voice wasn't the least bit agitated as he called my name again.

"Avery, I want you to meet someone."

I didn't want to be rude to this person, but there was some reluctance inside me. My mind was telling me that I was meeting too many people in Kyle's life. If I kept meeting them, it was just more people for me to avoid. If I got close to them, it was just more ties to Kyle, and I didn't want that.

"Avery, this is Kevin – or K-Dirty. He's our merch guy and my drum tech slash best friend," Kyle introduced.

'Great. Small, Asian boy's his best friend,' I thought.

"I can see one thing you guys have in common already," I stated, glancing between the two boys.

"What's that?" Kevin asked.

"You're both disgustingly skinny," I said matter-of-factly before bursting into a small fit of laughter.

"I find it hard to believe you think I'm disgusting in any way," Kyle said cheekily with a smirk on his face.