Seasons.

I slouched down on my seat, with my knees kicked up on the back of the seat in front of me. I noticed a blanket on the ground below me. I thought it was probably from tour before and they forgot to take it out. For some reason, it was real quiet in the van right now. We were driving down the streets of Scottsdale until we got to the Juwig home. For some reason, I knew the van wouldn’t be quiet when he got in the van.

Josh turned the next street, only driving down it a little bit. Then he pulled into the driveway of a big white house. In the driveway was Taylor and a bunch of boxes around him. Josh kept the car running, but he hopped out to help Taylor. I watched out the window as he grabbed one box and Taylor grabbed another.

Stephen opened the side door of the van and hopped out. He didn’t shut the door behind him though. I watched as he walked around the side of the van, pulling some keys out of his pocket. Then I couldn’t see anyone outside anymore. I could hear the trailer doors open at the back and a bang hit when they dropped the boxes.

Taylor appeared again, grabbing more boxes. Same with Josh and Stephen. Before I knew it all the boxes were in the back of the trailer. Stephen shut the doors loudly and locked them up. Josh got back in the drivers seat and Stephen and Taylor hopped into the van. I looked at Taylor and he looked at the empty space beside me. He obviously decided to sit there beside me.

I looked up at the front of the van. Josh was driving and John was listening to his iPod in the passengers seat. I was pretty sure that he was a sleeping because he wasn’t moving and his head was pushed to the side. He was the one who slept in the most too? I guess he just sleeps a lot in the car.

In the first row of seats was Brian and Carson. They were talking to each other about things I could really care a less about. In the second row was me on the far side and Taylor sitting down next to me. He hasn’t made a rude comment yet, so maybe the ride won’t be that bad. And in the back, Stephen and Jess were semi-laying down with their laptops attached to their laps.

I leaned my head against the window, thinking I should get some sleep. Knowing these kids tonight wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. It was going to be a little weird, a little crazy. Probably a mixture of the two. It wasn’t going to be a normal gig I’d go to because this time - I’m with the band.

I shut my eyes but seconds later all I could hear was loud music. I shook my head looking up to see Josh making the noise louder and louder. I sighed. It looks like I’m not going to be able to get any sleep on this car ride. No one in the van really cared about the music except for John. He shot his head up from sleeping and gave Josh a weird look. He pulled out his headphones, “What the fuck!”

“Hey,” Josh looked at him. “I’m driving, and I want to listen to music.”

“Yeah, but I want to sleep!” John groaned.

“Well, isn’t that too bad.” Josh smirked. “Plus you’re the one who slept in this afternoon.”

“Fuck you. . .” John groaned, shutting his eyes once again.

--

“Jordan, Jordan, Jordan. . .” I could hear someone saying in the back of my head. I shook my head back and forth. It was hard for me to open my eyes. Eventually I did, and I looked around. I couldn’t see anything in the front of me. I looked behind me to see John hanging over the seat right near the back of my head.

“Good morning sunshine,” John smiled. “Well, I should say afternoon. Almost night actually. You sleep long, I must say. We already sound checked and everything!”

I yawned. “Are you serious? You should have woke me up!”

“Well, I should have.” John nodded. “But, you just looked so cute while you were sleeping so I didn’t want to ruin that. Then Jess and I got in an argument because she was saying that I was a cheesy romantic idiot.”

“Well, me being cute while I sleep, which I’m not!” I replied. “Is no excuse for not waking me up Mr. Gomez. Just remember that alright? I might miss out on something important or memory making next time!”

“I’m sorry. . .” John pouted.

“It’s alright,” I smiled. “Now let’s go live the life of show life.”

“Well,” John started. “I already know about all of that. . .”

“Well, you can show me.” I smiled.

I moved across the seat, noticing that the car was a lot messier then it was when I went to sleep. I don’t even remember much from the ride. I remember Stephen whining about getting some Taco Bell, so we eventually got something. I wasn’t that hungry, so I didn’t get anything, I just went to sleep. But, now I can feel my stomach rumbling. I think John noticed too because he looked at me weird.

“Want to go to Chipotle?” John asked with a giggled. “Jess and Carson are there right now. I think it’s the first time they’ve ever been somewhere alone. I wonder how that’s going down . . .”

“Yeah, we should go.” I replied. “I mean I don’t want to ruin their alone time but fuck, I’m so hungry right now, you don’t even know.”

John looked down at my stomach and back up at me. “Oh, I think I know.”

I opened the side door of the van, and hopped out onto the sidewalk. I stretched my arms and let out a big yawn. I turned around see John standing there waiting for me. I smirked at him. I had no idea where we were going so, I thought I’d let him lead the way. He nodded, and began to walk away from the van. All I could do was follow him.

We walked around this big brick building and I’m guessing that this was the venue. We walked down the large brick wall together, staying in silence. Then when we turned the corner I could see some girls standing around the door. Some of them were sitting down on blankets texting on their phones, others just laughing about random things. “John!” I heard someone scream. It was one of the girls sitting against the venue wall. “Can I get a photo with you?” She asked.

Then it clicked in. They were all in a band. These girls have them on their iTunes and they listen to them on CD’s in their car singing along to their lyrics. Some girls swoon over John just by looking at photos of him on the computer, like I do with some guys in my favourite bands. It was all clicking into my mind now.

The girls friend stood there with the camera. I could see her hand shaking a tad. The other girl moved closer to John and he wrapped his arm around her. They both smiled and then the photo was taken. “Thanks,” The girl smiled. “Can I have a hug?” She asked.

“Well, of course!” John smiled brightly, being his happy, nice self. He grabbed onto the girl and hugged her tightly. I don’t know why this bothered me. I shook my head lightly looking away, trying to mind my own business.

“Is that your girlfriend?” The girl with the camera shouted at John. Then I noticed that they were talking about me. I raised my eyebrow and looked at John.

He smiled at me and pulled me closer. I could feel his arm wrap around my waist. I didn’t know what to do, and I didn’t know what he was going to say. I just stood there awkwardly and all the girls had their eyes on me. “No, she’s not.” John said to them. “I wish she was though. Don’t you think I’d be a lucky boy?” He smiled.

“She’s really pretty,” I could hear them all saying.

“Thanks,” I said shyly.

“Well,” John said. “We’re going to get some food because this little one hasn’t eaten all day long. We’ll hang after the show or something. I hope you guys have fun!”

“Bye John,” They all waved with a smile.

I turned around awkwardly and John and I began to walk down the street. And then I noticed something; John didn’t take his hand off my hip. I don’t understand how I couldn’t have noticed that. I looked at him, thinking of something that I could say to break the silence because I didn’t like it one bit. “Um, so are girls like that all the time?”

John smirked. “I knew you’d ask something like that. . .”

I shrugged. “Well, I’m just wondering.”

“Well,” John started. “I mean their like that here since we’re near home. Some of those girls have been following us around and going to all of our shows in Arizona since day one. Therefore they’re like our biggest fans. In other states and stuff like that, it’s not as bad I guess you could say.”

I nodded. “Do you like the attention?”
“I don’t know.” John shrugged. “Like I’ve said before I’m a little flirt. Usually at shows I’d be hooking up with a new girl every night. That’s just how it went. Don’t worry though, it’s not going to be like that now. I promise.”

“I don’t see why you wouldn’t,” I shrugged. “I mean, I bet there’s a bunch of really pretty girls as shows all of the time.”

“Yeah,” John nodded. “They’re pretty. But not as pretty as you.”

“Wow, Jess was right.” I laughed. “You are a cheesy romantic idiot.”

John laughed with me. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

I noticed Chipotle right there beside us. John pushed my shoulder a little, so I’d walk to left. He grabbed the handle of the door and let me walk in first. “Yes, a cheesy romantic.” I laughed walking into the building. John walked behind me, “I think I know that now, you don’t need to tell me a million times.”

“It’s fun though,” I smirked. “Because you are.”

“I get it!” He said laughing. “Jeez. Now what do you want?”

“I’ll have what you’re having.” I smiled.

“Alright.” John nodded. “Just go sit with them.”

I looked around the place, noticing Jess and Carson eating like animals. I knew that Jess ate a lot but I didn’t know she was bad as Carson. I guess their perfect for each other. I smirked walking over to their table. I stood at the side of the table and they both looked up at me. “I knew you’d be hungry,” Carson said. “I just knew it.”

“Who did you come with?” Jess asked. I moved a little for her to see. She looked over at John standing in line to get our food. “Oh. Johnny boy. Cute.”

“Fuck off,” I sighed taking a seat next to Jess. “He didn’t even wake me up!”

“Hey, I was going to.” Carson protested. “He wanted to let you sleep though.”

“Yeah,” Jess nodded. “Because he’s a -”

“Cheesy romantic idiot.” I finished her sentence. “Yes, I know.”

“That little fucker!” Jess groaned. “He’s always talking behind my back.”

“Awe,” Carson laughed. “Poor baby!”

“Shut up. . .” Jess sighed. “I don’t like being in a bad mood when I play. It sets off a vibe.”

“Speaking of playing,” I said. “What time do you guys play?”

“We go on second I’m pretty sure,” Jess nodded. “And the show starts around 6:30. We probably go on around seven or something like that.”

“You guys probably suck live. . .” Carson laughed. “Brian’s going to fall off stage or something. And I’m going to laugh my ass off.”

“I think you guys will be great,” I smiled. “I’m excited to see how this night is going to go down.”