She's With The Band

Two weeks went by, filled with parties, beer, groupies, set lists, flying guitars, punched sandwiches, dozens of Buzznet videos, thousands of dollars in merch sold, and innumerable amounts of passion flowing between Jack and Imelda. Cheesy as it sounds, there was just no doubting it.

Imelda sat pouting on the van with Jack’s arm around her shoulders. The band and crew were preparing for a big night on the town in Montreal. Of course, Imelda, being just over sixteen and a half, was to stay back with other bands that didn’t feel like partying it up.

This wasn’t the first time Imelda had been dumped off with various bands. There had been four other parties in the last two weeks, none of which Imelda had attended. Jack had stayed with her for two of the four soirées and introduced her to his friends in other bands, including Cassadee Pope, whom she had become very close with. The other two times, Jack had insisted on staying with Imelda and spending what little opportunities they had for alone time, but Imelda wouldn’t hear of it. She feared that if she had him stay back with her all the time, he’d get bored of her. She wanted Jack to be out enjoying Warped Tour as if she wasn’t there.

“Matt, I seriously don’t get why you won’t let me go. It’s just a party! I’m not a druggie, I’ve never been seriously wasted before. I’m not fourteen!” Imelda argued. Matt shook his head for the hundredth time.

“Mel, I don’t care whether or not you come,” he was interrupted by Imelda throwing her hands in the air as if she had proven a point, “but I promised Hopeless, Lyman and by extension your parents-” Imelda once again interrupted.

“Parent. As in singular.”

Matt nodded. “Excuse me. Your PARENT that I’d keep you out of all that. You have to stay here with responsible people.”

“What, like any of the people here are remotely responsible? Are you responsible, Matthew?!” Imelda snapped, raising her blonde eyebrows.

Alex burst out laughing, along with the rest of the band. The crew, valuing their lives and jobs, simply muffled their snickers.

Matt pointed at her and glared. “Don’t you start with me, young lady,” he warned. Imelda just rolled her eyes and turned to Jack.

“Jack. Go. Now. Have fun. Get drunk. Get laid. Ok, no. Don’t get laid. Just, go have a good time!” Imelda whined, curling into his side and kissing his scruffy cheek. Jack shook his head stubbornly.

“No. I want to stay here. Shut up.”

Imelda rolled her eyes and stood up, walking out of the van with Jack trailing behind.

“Where are you going?”

“If you’re not going to the party, then you’re staying back alone because Cassadee and I are having a slumber party with Hayley on the Paramore bus,” Imelda explained, digging through her red canvas trunk for some usable clothes. She saw Alex stiffen out of the corner of her eye and smiled sympathetically.

“I’ll give her a big kiss for you!” Imelda teased, poking Alex’s cheek. He rolled his eyes and turned back to his MySpace.

“That… would be so… hot…” Jack mumbled, turning his eyes up to the sky and grinning.

“Get that visual the fuck out of your head. That’s not what normal girls do at sleepovers.”

“Hey, so are James and Mae coming to the D.C. stop?” Nano asked curiously as he changed his shirt from a black Glamour Kills to a red All Time Low.

Imelda nodded gleefully. “Yeah. Mae’s bringing Darla, who I haven’t met yet and I’m really excited cause I think she actually likes her and James is bringing some girl named Tabitha.”

“Will they bring us food?” Vinny asked enthusiastically.

“I told James to bring us his mom’s stuff and my mom is bringing tons of baked shit that she makes,” Imelda told them, finally settling on a pair of skinny jeans and a baby blue Boys Like Girls hoodie. They walked back to sit in the van and Jack pulled Imelda onto his lap, laying kisses down her cheek and onto her neck.

“Baked shit? That doesn’t sound appetizing,” Zack snickered, deflecting Imelda’s smacks on his legs.

“My mom owns a bakery and our house always smells like a gigantic cupcake. It’s amazing I’m not three hundred fucking pounds!”

“That is a medical marvel,” Alex agreed sarcastically while flipping through the May 2005 issue of Spin, looking incredibly bored.

Jack frowned. “Did Alex run out of his PMS pills again?” he joked, exchanging a high five with Evan.

Imelda shifted uncomfortably and tightened her arms around Jack’s neck. He rubbed her back softly and kissed her.

“Seriously, you need a tampon, Alex? Just borrow one of Mel’s!” Danny giggled. Imelda grunted and unwrapped herself from Jack’s death grip to step off the van.

“Mellon, he was just joking!” Jack insisted, beginning to climb out of the van to follow her. Imelda turned around and shot them a look to silence them.

“I’m going now. Have fun, guys. I’ll call you before I fall asleep, J,” she whispered, leaning in to kiss him emotionlessly before slamming the door and turning toward the Paramore bus.

Jack looked around the van awkwardly and Alex looked thoughtful, staring off at Imelda.

“What’d I do?” Jack whispered, a look of terror crossing his face. Rian shook his head and held onto Jack’s shoulder.

“Imelda seemed too perfect to not be sensitive about some things. All girls have touchy subjects, Jack. It’s like doing a fucking ballet through a minefield.”

“Yeah… I guess…” Jack said absently. The van went back to what they were doing before the awkward exchange. Minutes later, the boys took off to meet Every Avenue, CIWWAF, Mayday Parade, Valencia and select members of Boys Like Girls for a night out at a bar in a strange Canadian city.

Imelda shuffled away from her van, her hands stuffed inside her hoodie pockets. A tear slipped out of her eye, melting the hard expression on her face. She had thought about this before, and she didn’t like being reminded.

“Mel!” Cassadee called, heading around the corner wearing yellow PINK sweatpants and an Underoath shirt. She was carrying a massive Arthur pillow and a pink pleather vintage bowling bag.

“Come here! You left right after the set today; I didn’t get to see you!” she giggled, wrapping her arms around her new friend. Imelda half-heartedly hugged her back.

“Jack showed up saying the boys went to get lunch so the van was empty…” she murmured guiltily, a crimson blush growing across her face. Cassadee laughed and poked at Imelda’s stomach excitedly.

“Have you guys…?” she asked, her eyebrows raised curiously. When Imelda shifted her weight awkwardly, Cassadee quickly recovered and shook her head.

“I am so sorry. That is none of my business. Forget I said anything,” she said quickly.

“No, no. It’s ok. We haven’t. I’m still a virgin, so we’re taking things nice and slow,” Imelda explained easily. She was still upset from her previous encounter with her painful memories.

“Ah. I see. Well, I told Hayley we’d be there, like, ten minutes ago so let’s walk over,” Cassadee suggested, slinging her free arm around Imelda’s neck while not-so-subtly changing the subject.

When the two arrived at the Paramore bus, Hayley was busy kicking Josh, Taylor, Jeremy, Zac and the rest of the crew out the door.

“You have your tickets, you have your money, if you leave now, you can make the previews!” she called after the group, shaking her head as she leaned against the door frame.

“I swear, being the tour mother is so difficult sometimes,” she sighed. Hayley quickly remembered her manners and southern hospitality and dragged the girls inside.

“Imelda, it is so nice to meet you! I saw the videos of your song onstage with the guys from the first day. You sounded awesome!” Hayley laughed, throwing her arms around a star-struck Imelda in a tight embrace.

“Thank you so much. It was so embarrassing though…” Imelda giggled, blushing.

Hayley waved her hand and stuck a bottle of queso in the microwave. “Nah. It was cute. So are you and Alex… uh?” she trailed off, looking genuinely interested. Imelda frowned a little, expecting Hayley to completely side-step the Alex subject.

“Oh. Uh, no. We had a little fling a couple weeks ago at the beginning, but Jack and I are dating now,” Imelda explained, dunking a chip into the warm and melty cheese.

Hayley nodded without missing a beat or showing any signs of remorse for leaving Alex with nothing but the sunrise through the windowpane, to quote his own work. “Jack is the funniest kid. Love that guy. So, movies? We have everything in the back lounge. Melda, can you snag all the junk out of that one cabinet? I’m gonna go set things up.” She pointed to a cabinet above the refrigerator, which was much too high for Hayley or Cassadee. Imelda dumped multiple bags of chips, cookies, brownies, cupcakes and assorted candy into her arms and followed the girls into the back, where Hayley was sorting through Tupperware boxes of DVDs.

“Did you buy all this stuff just for tour?” Imelda wondered incredulously as she set everything down on the couch.

“Nope. That’s all stuff the fans brought us. We’re not gonna let it go to waste,” Hayley replied. Imelda half-smiled as she sifted through the cards and pictures that came along with the numerous treats.

“Good peeps, those fans of yours,” she commented with her mouth full of Milanos. Cassadee laughed and stuffed a Reese’s into her trap.

“They’re the best, what can I say? Oh! Brownies!” Hayley hustled toward the front of the bus.

“Hayl, we already have brownies back here!” Cassadee called.

“I’m making brownies, dear!” her voice hollered back.

Cassadee rolled her eyes. “Typical southern housewife, huh?”

Imelda snickered and ate another chip. Hayley came back with three small plastic bowls filled with thick, gooey brownie and caramel sauce.

“They’re the ones you buy at the supermarket and throw into the microwave for like, a minute. Greatest inventions of mankind.”

The night went on like this as the girls bonded and gossiped and told silly high school stories. It was a cliché, typical sleepover, but Imelda hadn’t had that much fun with girlfriends in a long time.

Imelda woke up early that morning as the sun was beginning to rise. A hand was over her mouth and two concerned faces surrounded her.

She had the dream again.