Hurricane

November 2005

The whole situation was surreal. I was finally going to be able to get away from my house and I’d actually have something to do. I would be working for a band called Panic! At the Disco. I hadn’t met them yet, but Pete told me they were cool.

We were going to be leaving in a few days and Pete was currently helping me pack. He wanted to make sure I didn’t forget anything and that I didn’t bring anything that was unnecessary.

Bad news didn’t come until the night before we were to leave. I was staying at Pete’s house because of the fact that we would have to get up extremely early to go catch a plane to California where we would be starting the tour. The tour buses were there as well.

“I have something I need to tell you,” Pete said to me as we lay together in his bed. “And I should probably let you know before we get to California.”

“What is it?” I asked, eyes closed.

“I tried to pull some strings, but for now you’ll be staying on Panic!’s bus,” Pete said. “You were kind of a last minute addition and we need to move some people around and then before you know it you’ll be on Fall Out Boy’s bus.”

“Okay,” I said. “That’s fine.”

“Really?” Pete asked. I opened my eyes to look at Pete and smiled.

“Yeah,” I said. “It’s fine. Did you expect me to freak out or something?”

“Well..no,” Pete said. “I was a little nervous that you’d get upset though.”

“Really, its fine,” I said. “Let’s go to sleep now.”

---

The flight to California was long, but we eventually got there. There was a car outside waiting to bring us to the buses. When we arrived to where the buses were, Pete started toward the Fall Out Boy bus and I wasn’t sure if I should follow him, or go over to Panic! At the Disco’s bus.
As if remembering I was there, Pete stopped walking and turned to look at me. I was kind of annoyed.

“Sorry,” he said. “Um, let me just put my stuff on the bus and then I’ll bring you over to Panic!’s bus.”

“Okay,” I said. I followed him over to the Fall Out Boy bus and then waited while he went inside. I heard some shouting from the bus, and knew that Pete was being greeted by the rest of Fall Out Boy. A few minutes later Pete came back out and I smiled at him.

“Ready?” Pete asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “I’m a little nervous though.”

“Don’t be,” he said. “The guys in Panic! are really cool. You’ll like them.”

When we reached the other bus, Pete knocked on the door quickly and a moment later I could see someone standing on the other side of the door. He smiled at us and opened the bus’s door.

“Hey Pete!” he said. “It’s good to see you.”

“Same here,” Pete said, grinning at the guy. Spencer glanced at me.

“And who is this?” Spencer asked.

“This,” Pete said, putting a hand on my shoulder, “is Molly.”

“Oh,” Spencer said, smiling at me. “You’re the one they just hired to make sure we make it to sound check and stuff, right?”

“Yeah,” I said, smiling nervously.

“Well then,” Spencer said. “Let me show you to your bunk. I’d introduce you to meet the guys, but they just left to find some food right before you got here.”

“Okay,” I said. I looked at Pete and he smiled at me.

“Think you can handle it on your own?” Pete asked. “I have a few things I need to go do.”

“Yeah, that’s fine,” I said. The fact that Pete wasn’t going to go on the bus with me made me a bit more nervous, but I didn’t want to tell him that. He smiled before leaning forward to kiss me quickly.

“See you later,” he said. I watched as he started to walk away and then turned to follow Spencer onto the bus. I was really hoping that I would be able to make it through all of this.