Colder Than My Heart

Sarah woke from the sun shining onto her. She groaned, why had she not thought to close the curtain? Lazily throwing the sheets back she sat up in. She pulled out her cell phone from underneath her pillow and checked the time. Considering how tired she still was it was quite late. She raised her eyebrows seeing it was almost noon, she’d normally been up for hours at this point, but the off day meant the boys had taken advantage and come back late and drunk. She didn’t have an issue with it, she accepted it. She even thought it was quite humorous sometimes.

She flattened out the shorts she’d slept in and grabbed her bag from underneath the seat she had been lay on. Sarah grabbed herself clean clothes. She pushed one of the curtains back slightly to see the rest of the guys sat outside on various chairs. She let her eyes wander to the merch tents. Theirs was already up meaning she didn’t have to rush too much. She shut the curtain once again to dress before their set in a little over an hour.

Alex awoke with a powerful stinging between his temples. He winced and groaned, folding his arms across his face as if his feeble attempts would stop his pain. He eventually gave up squeezing his head and threw himself out of the bunk. Within five minutes of his day starting and he was already frustrated. And it wasn’t entirely the hangover’s fault.

As he made his way to the front part of the bus he wasted no time in fixing the pounding in his head. After cleaning up his hangover nicely he caught sight of the time, early, far too early. He groaned once again and slammed his fist on the worktop. Alex glanced over at the divider separating the two halves of the bus. He opened it, re-entering the bunk area. As he glanced around he saw no one else must have been up yet, all the curtains were drawn apart from the one next to him, his. He let his bare feet carry him to the closet, opening the door and pulling out his bag he left the door to swing open as he sat back on his bed. Pulling out a pair of decent clothes he left the rest to pour out over the edge of his bed.

He was quick to get dressed. As he opened the door to the bathroom he heard noises coming from the back of the bus. He leaned his head round, looking at Jack who was lounging on the sofa with an energy drink in hand. A welcoming smile made its way onto Alex’s face. Jack sensed Alex’s presence and looked up from the screen before him to his best friend. He returned the smile before sipping on the can.

Alex walked towards Jack, glimpsing at the TV and raising his eyebrows before sitting down next to the lankier of the two boys.

“We have real TV?” He asked, almost in disbelief.

“Yeah, Matt and Dave set up something the other day where we can get TV anywhere in the states,” he shrugged. “All we have to do is reset it whenever we arrive in a new place,” he concluded pushing the can to his lips once again.

“Dude that’s sick,” Alex grinned, fixing his eyes on the screen. Jack simply nodded and did the same, the two watching in silence. Time rolled on and neither of the boys had said much more. Both Zack and Rian had woken; Zack joined them in the back lounge whereas Rian went to the front of the bus claiming he needed to call his girlfriend. The time was nearly noon. Alex noted this and stood from his seat, walking his way to the front of the bus to see Rian sat scrolling through his phone. Alex picked his sunglasses from the worktop, spinning him around his finger idly as he made his way from the bus. As one hand occupied the handle of the door he slid the arms of the glasses over his face to sit above his ears. As he made his way from the bus he dug his hands into his pockets and watched his feet kick stray stones out of his path. He couldn’t help but feel he should be doing something at this point, but he wasn’t quite sure what.

He brushed it off without any worry and continued towards the back of the stages. He stopped near the gate, smiling at the warm face of one of the bodyguards keeping teenagers from sneaking into the back. Alex clasped the side of his jeans, frowning when he didn’t feel the piece of thin plastic brushing against his skin. He turned his attention to his jeans, looking on either side of him only to see there wasn’t in fact any pass hanging from his pockets.

“Oh shit,” Alex groaned letting his arms go limp in defeat. The guard in front of him chuckled, shaking his head lightly.

“It’s alright Alex, what do you need?” He asked unlocking the gate in the fence and pushing it open for the singer to step through.

“I’m just checking what time we’re on today. I think I left my pass on the bus though” he shrugged moving past the gatekeeper.

“Well, no one’s gonna stop you for that. Just come back this way later,” he instructed to which Alex nodded and with no further words turned on his heel. He let his eyes wander, the Hurley stage was being occupied, sound checks taking place for the first band of the day. People were already filing in as he dragged his feet further. On his way he passed several of the smaller stages. He recognised two boys, Jersey and Thomas talking by their equipment. Thomas’ guitar hung from his neck whilst Jersey kept a firm grasp on the sticks in his hand. Alex continued walking past them, only to catch their eyes. The pair sent him large smiles waving a little as he strode past. Alex simply returned their expressions and nodded in their direction from behind his glasses.

He finally neared his stage. A familiar short woman stood talking to the boys of another band due to play early that morning, the first on from what Alex could gather. They soon scurried away towards their instruments and began setting up knowing they didn’t have too much time left. Alex made his way to the smaller girl who grinned when she caught sight of him.

“Hey Alex,” she greeted. He ran a hand through his thick mop of hair standing before her as he stole a glance at the sheet from behind his tinted glass.

“Hey Andrea, what time are we on today?” He asked letting out a short sigh. She bit her lip, looking down at the sheets and quickly flipping through them.

“Let’s see,” she murmured to herself as her eyes scanned the paper. She smiled to herself, looking back up at the boy. “You’re on after Mayday Parade. Around two thirty, so be here early,” she confirmed whilst tucking a piece of her blond hair behind her ear. Alex nodded in understanding.

“Thanks,” he grinned before turning and walking back the same way he had come from.

Sarah looked out from the side of the stage into the crowd and smiled to herself. She’d never had the chance to visit Salt Lake City before, but the members of the crowd looked as welcoming as ever. After only playing two shows she still didn’t have much confidence and raging moths still filled her stomach but she knew as her set went on things would get easier so she didn’t dwell on it. She tore her eyes from the crowd and made her way down the small ramp out to the back of the stage. Jersey and Thomas stood conversing close by. Jersey was the first to notice as Thomas had his back to her. He sent her a smile over the other’s shoulder causing him to turn around and hold his arms out to her. She gratefully accepted his embrace before passing the same to Jersey.

“So, we’re up next,” Thomas began making conversation as he slung his arm around the girl next to him.

“Don’t remind me,” she whined quietly slouching into his side.

“You’ll get used to it,” Jersey grinned as the other male nodded. Sarah noticed Blake approaching with Nick from a distance and walked out of her guitarist’s hold.

“Hey guys,” she greeted with a large grin as she stopped a short distance from the other pair she was recently stood with.

“Hey Saz,” Blake greeted hugging her with one arm as he kept the neck of his guitar gripped firmly in his other hand.

“Guys, Rian and Jack invited us to the All Time Low bus after our sets are over. They got their TV working apparently and they want to celebrate,” he spoke to the pair of males causing him and the others around him to chuckle.

“I don’t see any problem with that,” Thomas answered looking around and quickly studying the expressions of his other band mates.

“I’m all for it,” Jersey agreed. Four sets of eyes landed on Sarah, seeking her approval more than anyone’s due to her milk anti social behaviour.

“Sure,” she nodded with an easy smile on her face. The others around her could see it touched her eyes and broke out in to conversation as if to say no more.

“Guys, get ready for sound check,” Andrew called from behind them at the side of the stage. They all exchanged one last look before making their way up the ramp.