She's No Good for Me

The drone of the quite interior of the van was starting to put Owen to sleep. It had been about half an hour or so since they pulled out of her aunt’s driveway, and not a single note of music had been played.

She had neglected to remember to put her ipod in her purse and not in her suitcase, which was now located in the back of the trailer and when she politely asked if they could turn on the radio; her cousin informed her that it didn’t work.

It shouldn’t have surprised her, the van looked older than most of the people riding in it. She was surprised that the thing even still ran, she was convinced they were going to break down any minute.

“We need to stop for gas,” Bryan loudly informed from the driver’s seat, virtually waking everyone else up from their coma.

“I need to take a piss,” Cash mumbled as he straightened up from his position one row ahead of Owen. “Want to hold it for me Owen?”

Narrowing her eyes at the pathetic boy, Owen scoffed. “Not if you were the last man on the planet.”

“So original,” he grinned.

Before Owen could shoot another lame come back in his direction, the van pulled up alongside a pump and stopped. Quickly the door slid open and out shot the three boys who were in the back, followed slowly by Owen and her cousin.

“You okay so far?” Alex asked politely, walking side by side with the girl he had once been so close with.

“Mmhm,” was the only thing that she let escape as she flung the door to the conveniently placed store open, not bothering to hold it for Alex.

When they were little Owen and Alex had been inseparable, they were constantly over at each other’s houses, playing games and singing along to the Disney movies both of them loved so much.

Owen had grown up though, a little too fast for her cousin’s liking. She was suddenly too good to hang out with him, and he was always preoccupied with other things. But most of all, it was her attitude that made them drift apart.

Roaming along the large refrigerated area of the store, Owen scanned the contents in search of the perfect beverage. Her eyes lit up when she spotted it, the crimson wrapper and white writing seemed to bring her out of her bad mood immediately. Grabbing two bottles she sauntered up to the counter and plunked them down, paying the cashier before exiting the store and making her way back to the van.

“Aww she found her medicine,” Johnson teased as he came up behind her.

“You have jokes I see,” Owen mocked before she placed her drinks on her seat and started towards the trailer. She needed her ipod, she couldn’t take one more minute of silence and she sure as hell wasn’t going to try and make conversation with any of her idiot cousin’s band members.

“Can somebody open this for me?”

“What do you need?” Bryan questioned casually as his eyes flicked between the gage of the pump and the gas tank of the van.

“Ipod, I forgot it in my bag and I cannot take one more second of silence.”

Smirking slightly, he grabbed the set of keys from his pocket and tossed them to her. “Don’t run off with those,” the southern drawl that Owen hadn’t noticed slipped through as he playfully warned her.

Rolling her eyes, she quickly unlocked the awkward addition to the back of the van and got what she needed before tossing the keys back to Bryan. Placing her ear buds in Owen sighed happily as Jimmy Eat World flooded through her ear drums.

After another few minutes of waiting they were back on the road again, Owen lost in her own world of playlists and boring scenery. About a half an hour later curiosity got the best of her, she realized that she had no idea where they were going or how long this drive was going to take.

“So Alex,” Owen said nonchalantly. Pulling out one of her ear buds and casting her gaze upwards, she found two boys looking at her.

“You have to be specific around here O,” her cousin chuckled.

“Whatever, Alex my cousin Alex,” she said again, clarifying which one she was speaking to before continuing. “How long is this drive anyway?”

“Six hours and forty two minutes.”

“Six hours!?” Owen shrieked, her voice booming off the metal frame of the vehicle.

“And forty two minutes,” Alex smirked, glancing behind him again.

“Let me out,” she huffed.

There was no way that she was about to spend six hours in a rusty old van with nothing to keep her occupied besides her ipod.

“Well that’s a little dramatic,” Johnson scoffed.

“Owen we’re in the middle of the highway,” Alex said in a reasoning manner.

“I don’t care,” Owen dismissed, directing her next outburst at Bryan. “Pull over and let me out!”

“What are going to do walk back?” Bryan added.

“No stupid, there’s this brilliant thing called hitchhiking.”

Johnson’s eyes lit up at the idea. “Oh let her out, maybe some creep will pick her up and she’ll end up in a ditch.”

“Shut up Johnson,” Alex hissed. “My mom would break my neck.”

“Seriously, is this how she’s going to be all tour?” Johnson grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. “If it is then let her out, I cannot deal with two months of dramatic bullshit.”

“Damn right I am,” Owen smirked, glancing back at him before bringing her eyes back to her cousin’s. “You should listen to him Al, drummer boy has a good point.”

“Can you both just shut up?” The obnoxious bass player moaned.

“Nobody asked you,” Owen spat, hunching down further into her seat.

Rolling his eyes, Cash straightened up and sighed. “You are such a brat”

“Will you all be quiet please?” Bryan politely questioned, reaching over to flick on the radio and drowned out the bickering.

“I thought you said that didn’t work Alex,” she reminded.

“I lied,” he responded shortly, turning his attention to the window and passing scenery.

“This is such bullshit,” Owen seethed under her breath, quickly realizing that nobody was going to make this easy for her.

Normally when Owen complained loud enough people gave in just to shut her up. If this were anybody else but the group of disgusting boys she was now stuck with, they would have turned back and gladly dropped her off at her front door.

Cathy was right about one thing, they were desperate. She hadn’t been right, however, about them appreciating her.

While Owen continued to stew in her bad mood, everything outside of the window began to blur. Her eyes were growing increasingly heavy; the lack of decent music coming from the radio and the silence inside of the van was beginning to bore her again.

She had only meant to close her eyes for a moment, rest them. But the moment she opened them again she was surprised to see a large building in front of her, the van no longer in motion.

The sound of the van door sliding open made her jump realizing that she had been alone. The bright face of her older cousin came through her blurred vision.

“Morning sunshine,” he exclaimed.

Owen groaned out a response, stretching her cramped body and making note of everything that hurt.

“Me and the guys took the liberty of loading in for you and setting up your spot,” he continued never missing a beat, the cheer in his voice never wavering. “You can handle it from there right?”

Staring at him like he had three heads, Owen nodded. “I…guess so.”

“Cool, doors open in an hour so you might want to like, get up and do whatever it is that you need to do.”

“Uh o-okay,” she stammered, reaching around her to grab her purse before she moved to get out of the van.

She stood in place for a moment, trying to regain her senses before she tried to move in any particular direction. She had no idea where to go; this whole life style was completely foreign to her. Was there some kind of back door, did she just waltz in through the front? What about security, did she have to check her purse?

She could hear her cousin chuckling behind her, his hands planting themselves firmly on her shoulder willing her to move.

“Come on, I need to get you your laminate too.”

“My…what?”

Alex sighed. “Your id, a laminate is like your tour id so the people at the venues know you’re with us and not some random, weirdo fan,” he explained quickly, none of it registering with Owen.

Shrugging his hands off her shoulders in a harsh manner Owen shook her head. “Look, whatever, I just need a bathroom.”

“Right, okay well there’s bathroom’s in the dressing room,” he offered, his cheerful tone from before was all but gone as he opened the back door for them.

“Thanks Al,” Owen said quickly before breaking away from him in search of a bathroom.

It wasn’t that she didn’t, somewhat, appreciate her cousin’s attempts to make her feel welcome; it was that she didn’t want them. Owen could figure things out for herself, she didn’t need him holding her hand all the way to the bathroom, she didn’t need his band mates doing her job. Owen was capable of doing things for herself.

Finding the bathroom quickly Owen studied her disheveled appearance before getting to work on making herself presentable. Dabbing on a bit of make-up and taming her out of control hair, she exited the bathroom ready to get this night over with.

&&

It was intimidating being behind the long table set up in a remote area of the venue. The elaborate set up of t-shirts and hooded sweaters behind her was eye catching. Somebody had scrawled out prices on pieces of tape and stuck them on the corresponding t-shirts. She noted how horrible the handwriting was, wanting to pull it all down and re-do it.

She had no idea that selling t-shirts and various other items could be this complicated. Everything was clipped perfectly, placed in a precise order with thought instead of just thrown on the table. A few boxes were scattered around her feet containing everything that was neatly placed on the wall, an old, beat up money box sat on top of the table. She had been warned not to keep it there by one of the guys around the same time they had warned her that doors were now open.

Owen had been to a few of Alex’s shows. She had never actually seen one of course, she usually just hung around outside in the parking lot with her friends. Truthfully the only concert Owen had ever been to was a Britney Spears concert when she was fourteen, she wasn’t a scene rat or a show hound, she would much rather be at a party then in a crowd of sweaty, screaming girls.

So when the wave of people began to fill up the room, Owen could feel her nerves start to twitch. She could feel her stomach turn as groups of people begun heading her way.

This was going to be a long night.

“I should have really paid more attention in math class,” Owen mumbled as she examined the money in front of her.

“You owe me five dollars.”

“I-I-uh-I-um, oh god I’m so sorry,” she fumbled, feeling the heat rise up her neck as she glanced at the girl who had a world of annoyance plastered on her features.

The large line behind her looked exactly the same; Owen was beginning to become familiar with that look. She had been non stop for the better part of an hour, not even having a chance to take a drink of the red bull Alex had delivered to her, a drink which she clearly needed.

“You’ve never done this before have you?” A voice questioned from the left of her.

“I worked retail for two years; this is nothing like that, clearly,” Owen mumbled, managing to give the girl her change and help the next person in line.

“Not really,” he chuckled. “I’m Dylan by the way.”

“That’s nice.”

“You’re not very friendly either,” he continued to point out.

“Not when I’m trying to pay attention and you’re distracting me with formalities,” Owen mumbled waving off his attempt at conversation, not bothering to look over at him.

“And you can’t multi-task,” he added.

“Is this some kind of hazing?” Owen questioned harshly, suddenly becoming defensive at this strange boy perpetually pointed out her every flaw. “Like, oh look new blood! Let’s intimidate her with our witty commentary on her poor t-shirt selling, awful social skills and multi-tasking ability.”

“Quick learner,” he smirked.

Blowing the bangs out of her eyes she finally looked at him, she wanted to wipe the smug look off of his face. Instead she decided to play along, if only to get this guy off her back.

“Owen.”

“It’s nice to meet you Owen.”