Baby, Just Close Your Eyes

“Baby, take my bag?” I asked handing Jared the bag. He took it from me and added it to the airport cart. The others were still signing stuff, talking to friends on the girls cell phone and getting pictures. It was quite amusing. They slowly made their way over to Jared. I stepped back and allowed him to do his thing. They were incredible with their fans.

“Sup, bro?” I turned to the voice. A girl about my age was standing behind me. Expensive camera in hand.

“Oh. Hey! What’s up?”

“I was uhm maybe hoping that I could get a picture with you?” She asked nervously.

“Me?” She nodded.

“Yeah, I envy you so much. You busted on the scene with The Maine and now you’re with boxEIGHT. I’d kill to have your job!” I laughed quietly.

“Aw. Thanks so much! It’s a great job. I wouldn’t have my life any other way to be extremely chessey. But yeah. We can do a cool ass Myspace shot picture.” She laughed.

“Myspace it is I guess.”

“No! I’ll do it!” Jared took the camera from the girl and stood in front of us.

“Jared, I swear to God if you drop that or damage it in anyway I’ll stick your head on a converor belt.” He stuck his tongue out at me and motioned for us to get together. John and Kennedy jumped in front of us and crouched down.

“Say fuck you!” Jared yelled. We all screamed in unison, a mother of two glared at us and continued dragging her children away. The click sounded and he handed the girl her camera back.

“Pat’s hungry!” Pat yelled running in a circle around us. It was amazing we hadn’t gotten thrown out of here yet.

“Yo! You want to go out to eat with us?” John asked putting his arm around her shoulders. She looked uncomfortable under his smile.

“I wish I could but I’d miss my flight. I have to go home sometime.” She said smiling and leaning down to get her bags off the floor.

“Aw! But I’ll be the only girl! What’s your name by the way?!” I asked.

“Phoebe. I wish I could stay! That’d be a story to bring home to the friends. Lunch with The Maine. They’d piss their pants.” She said quickly looking up at the clock and then at her ticket.

“They’re an interesting group. Maybe we’ll meet again! Wait! You have a cell right?” She nodded and slid the phone out of her pocket. I quickly keyed my number in and handed it back to her. “I think I can trust you with my number right? I’m not that important.” She giggled.

“Thank you so much. I was so bummed about leaving but meeting you guys at the airport made it all worth it. Can I have a hug?” I smiled and hugged her. The guys all group hugged her small frame. She waved and ran off to the gate where her plane was boarding.

“She was cool.” Garret said picking up his bag.

“She was. I need another friend. Too bad she’s leaving.” I said shouldering my bag and following the others.

“You’ve got plenty of friends!” Tim said sticking his tongue out at me.

“Girlfriends. Why are you even here?! This isn’t tour!”

“Vacation. I go home next week. Thanks for your love though.” I smiled and skipped outside where two cars were waiting for us. All of this was well planned out for who I was with.

The house was beautiful. It sat 30 feet from the beach. It looked liked most beach houses. White paneling, blue siding, a million windows. The place was more a hotel than a house. The “For Rent sign leaned against the house. I quickly grabbed everything I could carry and went inside. Stairs led up to a second story landing, downstairs the whole house was already furnished with all the essentials, the kitchen was painted a soft yellow and two rooms off of that were really small. I shrugged and went upstairs. All of the doors were open except for the last one on the left.

I opened the door curiously and found a huge room. French doors opened onto a balcony that faced the water. Two chairs and a table were off to the corner. I smiled and dropped my stuff. Jared shuffled into the room, dropping his things as he went and collapsed on the bed.

“Tired, baby?” He nodded and dropped his arms over his eyes.

“I’m staying in here.”

“There’s a million other rooms. Why?” I asked kicking off my shoes and snuggling up with him.

“This is the prettiest room and I miss you at night.” He said kissing the top of my head. The house was completely silent. It was creepy.

“Where’s everyone at?”

“They ran to the beach. Don’t complain. Soon we’ll be at each others throats about song writing and chords. If you don’t leave early I’ll be surprised. Last year we boxed ourselves up at John’s house in the basement. Pat left one day and didn’t come back for three weeks and wouldn’t take our calls either.” I sat up and stared at him. He was completely serious.

“I’ve dealt with worse. You’ll be fine. You all will be.” I said sliding my phone out of my pocket. A new message from John was displayed across the screen.

> Come out and play! There’s way too many guys and its warm! Bask in it before its gone!”

I sighed and put the phone down. Jared gave me a questioning look. I shook my head and pulled my hoodie over my head.

“What was that?” Jared asked pointing to my phone.

“John wants us to come out and play. You want to?”

“So, now you don’t fight about putting a suit on?” He asked shaking his head and standing up. I shrugged.

“Sticking around with ya’ll has made me the least self conscious of my life.” He laughed and pulled out red trunks.

“Good.” He said walking over and kissed me. My arms wrapped around his neck. His palm rested on the side of my face, his thumb gently caressing my cheek.

“They can’t stay in the same room! No The Maine babies!” I pulled away laughing and looked around Jared. All the guys were standing in the doorway smirking. Garret and Tim were both shaking their heads.

“You can all go suck a dick.”

“Looks like you already are.” John said, a cross between disgust and jealously mixed with the dumb smirk. I rolled my eyes. For someone who was so cool about this only weeks before when Jared wasn’t around he sure was acting like a dick about the whole situation.

“I’ll stay next door.” Jared said kissing my forehead and grabbing his bags. He shooed the others away and closed the door. I grabbed my bag angrily and quickly changed into my suit.

I was still nervous about going out in anything less than a t shirt and jeans still but it would probably always be a thing that was always there. There was a knock at the door. I pulled my hoodie over my head and opened the door. John was leaning against the door frame. I slammed the door in his face and sat down on the bed. He just doesn’t catch on though.

“I didn’t mean to say that out loud.” He said walking into the room and closing the door.

“Because thinking it is so much better.”

“You have a point. I told you this wasn’t going to be easy. I told you how I felt last tour. You chose to ignore me and go for Jared.”

“We don’t work, John. We fight constantly! I don’t trust you. So, drop the jealousy act and get over it. I know its not what you want to hear and I love that we can be friends despite every thing but please, for the sake of the band and me don’t be a douche.” He nodded not meeting my eyes. I bit my bottom lip and walked over to him, hugging his tiny waist.

“You got the best room. Bitch. Let’s go swim. Waters amazing.” He said acting as though the conversation 30 seconds before hadn’t happened. I skipped ahead of him bubbling with excitement. I could take pictures tomorrow. Today I was having fun.