Warped Tour Should Be the Definition of Fun

After Stockholm Lights’ set was done, I signed into Twitter using the phone that Garrett bought for me. I scanned the newest updates of the people that I was following. Josh Montgomery mentioned something about not letting Brian Dales – their lead singer – into the van, Matt Flyzik mentioned something about hanging out with a pretty girl, and tons of more updates I wouldn’t bare to read.

I decided to see the tweets that people mentioned me. Some fans said I was so energetic on stage today and that our performance was amazing. I grinned happily. My fingers then pressed the screen to make a new update.

Thanks for everyone who saw our set today! You guys were great! Make sure to see my side project after Every Avenue and after YMA6!

I read some more mentions and there was one from Alex.

@namoralights @kennedymaine @justinbrighten @austinbello @garrettmaine SOMEONE SUGGESTED ME A NAME FOR OUR SIDE PROJECT AND I LOVE IT!!!!!!!

I chuckled at his hyperness and typed a reply.

@alexalltimelow chill a bit, dude. Tell us what it is before our set, ‘kay?

I shoved the phone into my pocket after exiting the application and skated towards my band’s merch tent. I plopped down on a chair behind our merch table and placed my skateboard under the chair. No longer, Lianne came and sat next to me.

“Are you hungry?” she asked, holding up a bag of Subway.

“Nope, not yet. I still have a set after this, I’d be hungry then. When did you get to buy Subway, anyway?”

She smiled. “Flyzik bought it. He said it was for ATL but they didn’t eat all of it.”

“You’re giving us leftovers?! Eww,” I whined.

“The ones in here are untouched!” she defended, “At least, that’s what he said…”

I nodded. “Hey, Flyzik tweeted something about hanging out with a pretty girl. Was he talking about you, Lianne?” I asked, raising my eyebrows while my mouth was formed into a large grin.

Her cheeks flushed a little. “Well – well that depends,” she stuttered. “He was hanging out with a lot of pretty girls, and I – I don’t think I’m pretty.”

“Whoa, what’s this? I never heard you stutter before,” I pointed out, surprised. It was true. Lianne was never nervous.

She blushed even more. “I don’t know, okay? He’s just – I don’t know.”

I laughed. “Okay, we can talk about him later. I’ll eat the Subway after my second set. Don’t let the boys eat them all.”

“Of course, I’ll make sure. And I don’t think they’d be trying to; remember the last time they ate all your chips?”

“Yeah,” I chuckled at the memory. “I hid all of their underwear.”

She laughed. “I wonder how you managed to take their underwear,” she flinched. “Wasn’t it gross?”

“Kind off… but somehow Cliff brought a pair of gloves so I wore it,” I answered as I bent down to take my skateboard. Garrett was calling so I guess we were going on in a few minutes. I stood up and told Lianne goodbye.

She replied, and as I was about to skate away, she stopped me, “Tonight we gotta have a girl night in the back lounge and talk about boys!”

I did stop.

“W – what?” I asked, nervous-slash-confused.

“I know you have a thing for Baby Nicko,” she smirked, winking.

“I DON’T!” I answered/screamed a little too quickly, only to make her smirk wider. I blushed and skated away from her, heading for the stage I was going to perform next.

“I KNOW YOU WANNA TALK ABOUT HIM!” Lianne shouted after me.

“SHUT UP!” I screamed over my shoulder, skated quicker. When I finally reached the stage, the first person I saw was Garrett and that didn’t help pretty much. I blushed when I saw him, so I looked down as I walked to him with my skateboard in my hand.

“Hey, we’re gonna be up in ten,” he said when I was in front of him.

“Yeah,” I muttered, placing my skateboard on top of a box.

“HI GUYS!!” someone – which I assumed was Austin – jumped on my back, causing me to fall down. Instead of saying sorry and helping me to get up, he sat on my back. He scanned the place. “Dude, where’s Alex?” he asked to whoever heard him.

“I’m here,” Alex answered, magically appearing next to Justin who was typing on his phone.

Justin jumped a little. “When the hell did you get here?” he asked, confused.

Alex only grinned.

“Get the fuck off my back,” I muttered to Austin. He ignored me and kept talking to Kennedy. “Austin, get off my back!” I shouted.

“Did I hear something?” Austin asked to Kennedy, acting dumb. Kennedy shrugged with his eyebrows raised, smiling a little.

“Did you hear something, Alex?” Austin turned to Alex.

“I think I heard a pig squeaking or something,” Alex answered.

“JUST GET THE FUCK OFF, AUSTIN!” I yelled, managing to smack his head.

The boys laughed as Austin finally got up, laughing as well. He offered his hand and I took it before standing up.

“I could barely breathe, thanks to you,” I jokingly glared at him.

He clung onto me as he apologized. “I’m sorry, Namoraaa. Forgive me?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” I shrugged him off. I took a look at him and he was pouting while giving me his puppy eyes. I sighed. “Fine.” He was about to jump in excitement but as I said, “Just make sure you buy me a pack of gum.”

He nodded excitedly. “Love you Namora.”

“Love you too, Austin.”

“DID YOU HEAR THAT, GUYS?! SHE TOLD ME SHE LOVED ME!” Austin screamed. I rolled my eyes at him, but smiled nonetheless.

“So guys, someone suggested,” Alex started, realizing we only had a few minutes left. “That our name should be – wait, what was it again…” he muttered, taking out his Blackberry and went silent for a few moment. “Paraphrase.”

“Paraphrase,” Kennedy repeated. “I like it.”

We all nodded and murmured in agreement.

“OKAY GUYS!” Garrett shouted. “Paraphrase it is, and we have two minutes left!”

We went a bit panicked and got ready with our instruments. When I had my electric guitar slung across my shoulders, my phone rang. I muttered profanities as I took it out to answer.

“Hello?” I didn’t get to see the caller ID.

“Namora?”

“Oh… hey, Grandma,” I said after realizing to whom that voice belonged to.

Well this is awkward. I had never spoken to her for the past seven years, yet I could still recognize her voice.

“How are you?”

“I’m about to go on stage, actually. How about you? And Grandpa?”

“We’re okay.” Pause. “Namora, there’s something we gotta tell you…”

“NAMORA! ONE MORE MINUTE!” Garrett shouted.

I put my index finger against my lips, telling him to be quiet. “What is it?”

The next seconds she spoke, I felt my whole world was crashing down.

This is not true.

“Namora,” Garrett tapped my shoulder. “You gotta go.”

I gulped the big lump in my throat and nodded, fighting back tears. “I’ll talk to you later, Grandma.” I hung up and shoved the phone into my pocket.

“Ready?” Alex said as I approached the guys. I nodded, taking a deep breath.

Don’t cry.

At least, not now.