Seven Days

The moment Andrea finished her last class Friday afternoon, she went immediately back to her house and found herself rushing around and throwing articles of clothing into a duffel bag, trying to decide what would be best for the next week. Procrastinating was not a clever thing to do when going on tour, she knew that, but she couldn’t bring herself to put that kind of thought into her spring break trip. The Maine had offered her a chance to play with them, and that alone boggled her mind. However, allowing it to take over her mind left her hardly any time to pack her things before her late afternoon flight.

A sudden slamming downstairs alerted her of the boys coming to invade her house. Usually she’d be okay with that, because the guys came over all the time to hang out, but they also distracted her on a frequent basis. Her frequently packed schedule and their excess free time usually didn’t agree with each other, just like now.

“Andrea!” She could hear Brandon calling up the stairs and sighed, then tossed the handful of shirts she was holding into her duffel before opening her door.

“Yes mom?” she called back before returning to her half-packed duffel. She went through her t-shirts one more time before pulling some off the hangers and throwing them into the bag as well.

“Time for milk and cookies!” His voice replied, a pitch higher this time. She laughed and shook her head as she grabbed pajamas and jeans, putting them into the bag as well before deciding a break was in order. The boys were probably eating all her cookies anyway.

“Are you guys causing chaos in my kitchen again?” she asked as she walked in to notice all three boys at the dining room table around a plate of cookies, glasses of milk in their hands. She was surprised, though she felt she probably should have known.

“Course not!” Michael replied, a cheesy smile gracing his face. “We just figured that you would be freaking out about being ready for your mini tour, which you are of course, so we’re making you take a cookie break!”

“By volunteering the cookies my mom made me?” She crossed her arms and pretended to be mad, but they knew she’d never be mad at them.

“Well... yeah.” Seb joined in, making it sound as though the answer were obvious. Andrea sat down and joined the boys despite their idiocy, because she loved them to death and wouldn’t see them for another week, and sometimes you just have to be a little crazy.

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A few hours later, she stepped off the plane in Dallas, still in shock that this would really be happening. Her band wasn't very popular yet, and it made her wonder how Garrett Nickelsen ever found out about them. These thoughts followed her down to the baggage claim, and by the time she found her things, she had only confused herself even more.

After grabbing her bag, she stepped off to the side out of the way of other people, and set about trying to find someone. She'd traveled a lot before, but she'd never done it by herself, and being there alone made her a little nervous. Once she'd waited for about fifteen minutes, her nervousness grew, and she made her way to the main desk. However, before she could say one word to the lady behind the desk, Jared Monaco ran up to her, grabbed her hand, and pulled her away.

"You know, if you had them page one of us, that could have been messy." He joked, letting go of her hand as they made their way out of the airport. She felt her cheeks flush from embarrassment and nerves, which only made her wonder how she was going to last a week with these guys if she was going to be blushing within two minutes.

"I could have always asked for Buttered Croissant Baby. You'd know what I was talking about, even if they didn't." She knew she'd made up the right excuse when he suddenly burst into laughter. Though she was thankful she'd at least gained the approval of one boy, she couldn't help but think there were four more she had to check off of her mental list before she was safe.

"Very true, though I'm not entirely certain they would have actually announced that one." As they walked outside toward the vehicle, his laughter slowly faded, though the smile on his face never left, which definitely reassured her. "How angry would you be if I broke the law for about ten point two minutes?" He asked as they reached a dark blue car and he unlocked it for them. Andrea looked at him for a minute, unsure of what he meant and how she should answer, until she realized he was somewhat serious.

"I don't know. Depends on how much you're breaking the law." She answered as they got into the car and he started the engine. He turned to her and gave her a cheesy smile before shifting it into gear.

"How about this. You look out the window and pretend you didn't see anything." She laughed and turned to look out the side window as he began driving toward the venue, but the ride started to grow slightly awkward, so she turned back to Jared only to see him eying her as well.

"Did I... do something wrong?" She asked when he kept glancing toward her. Sure, it was a little awkward, but she hadn't thought she did anything wrong.

"Yeah. You're supposed to look out the side window. I don't want a witness to my illegal activities." Once again he was joking with her, which made her feel much better, and she let out an unconscious sigh of relief.

"Oh, excuse me. Here I was just trying to figure out why we had to ride in silence, but I'll go look somewhere else." She joked back, making him laugh once more as he switched on the radio. The rest of the ride was so much less awkward, and they exchanged a some idle conversation before reaching the venue and running inside in hopes that they weren't too late. The show had already begun, but the opening band was still performing when they ran backstage.

"Jared! Finally, we had to B.S. your soundcheck, how long does it take to go to an airport for a few minutes?!" Pat cried as he nearly tackled Jared to the ground when they finally made it backstage. Both boys were grinning, but she knew that it was serious business for them.

"I'm here, we're fine, how long until we're on?" Jared replied, looking around for his guitar and spotting it quickly on the rack in the corner.

"Right about now?" John yelled toward them as the ending chords of the previous act's song were ringing throughout the venue and techs were running around crazily. Jared groaned in response and then turned back to Andrea, gesturing toward the four boys growing anxious to run out on stage.

"Andrea, The Maine." Jared then switched his gesture in her direction. "The Maine, Andrea. Glad to know we know each other." Upon finishing his half-hearted introductions, he ran up to where the other boys were standing and they started up their pre-show chant. Andrea watched in amusement as they started to jump around in circles along with their clapping, and couldn't help but laugh when Garrett and Pat broke off from the group after the chant to continue in some sort of clapping, high-fiving and jumping handshake. Just as they finished, Tim announced that they had to start heading out onto the stage soon.

"Wait!" Pat yelled, running over to Andrea quickly. "Good luck high five?" He offered, holding his hand up and smiling expectantly. She smiled and returned his five, making him squeal in excitement as he ran back to the others and joined them in running on stage. The crowd screamed for what seemed like forever, but no one could really care less, for it was the thing they lived for every night. As soon as the shouts died down, John took hold of the microphone and introduced them.

"What's going on Dallas? How are you feeling tonight?!" He yelled, earning them another round of screams. He looked back at the other boys with a wide smile on his face. "You kids are super special tonight, because it's Garrett's final show before we put him in quarantine!" Many people laughed and there were a few scattered shouts throughout the crowd, which only made John grin wider. "So you guys have to party hard and sing with everything we play, give him a good temporary send-off! This first song's called Girls Do What They Want!"

As the crowd shouted their words of excitement, the boys began to start up their first song, and Andrea was already getting excited. She'd seen them in concert before, but not side stage, and their stage presence was ten times greater from there, if that was even possible. Just before John started singing the first verse, Kennedy looked her way and sent her a smile, which only made her heart flutter more than it already was, and this time it wasn't of excitement.