Stranded

“Okay, but she's the one I'm allowed to cheat on you with okay...you can have one guy you can cheat on me with, too. Deal?” Jack finalized about our Holly Maria S. Rae argument.

I smiled on the inside but pouted on the outside, “Fine, then. I get Patrick Stump.”

“Okay.” Jack nodded, kissing my lips before skipping to the stage to get going with the secret show.

“Ready for round two?” Alex shouted, as Jack was playing a few notes on his acoustic guitar. The crowd cheered and suddenly Zack stopped his string of notes on the other acoustic.

“What the French toast are we going to play?” Jack laughed into the mic.

“Any request?” Alex asked and a chorus of 'Lullabies' came from the crowd. “Alright,” He nodded looking to Jack to start. He didn't have a guitar, but instead he stood by a keyboard, Gandalf had set it up in case they wanted it.

From my perch in the back with me leg stretched out in all its cast covered glory beside me on the table. “How's it going?” Someone said beside me I looked over at Hayleigh, who was smiling.

“Good,” I nodded, “Your signing has my hand still cramped though.” I joked, rubbing my wrist for emphasis.

“Sorry. Gandalf and I are just really big fan. Of both of you.” She smiled. Since it wasn't too loud (there were only about forty people and Rian only had piccolo sticks and a snare) Hayleigh and I could just talk normally.

“I have a request.” Sara came onstage, and she got a cheer. Which I could see made her cheeks tint.

“You liked her voice, huh? How about we kick it with a cover?” Alex asked. “More Juliet, or something else?”

“Jul-li-et!” The crowd chanted.

“You heard them, Sara, what song do you want?” She shook her head no. “Awww, come on! You don't want to let your fans down, do you?” He wagged his eyebrows at her and slung an arm over her shoulders. It was so obvious he was flirting, but I could tell Sara didn't even realize. His flirting with her might have something to do with the clichéd plastic cup next to his stool no doubt filled with alcohol of the sorts.

“So...they're not together, huh?” Hayleigh asked, watching as Alex slowly convinced Sara to sing and Automatic Loveletter song. While Sara decided which song she would sing, they played her request, 'Stay Awake (Dreams Only Last For a Night).

“Do you know how to play 'Back to Life'?” Sara asked Alex, who nodded.

“I know all their songs.” Alex took the guitar from Jack. Sara took a seat at the keyboard. There was no piano in the song, but Sara had learned to play it on the piano a while ago. While Sara sang, she kept her eyes closed, during the chorus Alex sang 'Baby, don't close your eyes' and other backing vocals. At least she seemed more comfortable in from of the crowds.

“She really does have a nice voice.” Hayleigh commented after the first chorus.

“Mmmmhmmm.” I nodded. Alex took a long gulp from the cup after the song. Tonight was going to be interesting.

…

Once the secret show was done (Sara was even coerced into another Automatic Loveletter song and this time she chose 'Makeup Smeared Eyes') we all headed to the bus. Sara gave the excuse that she had some deadlines to get to work on, and went to the back lounge where everything she needed was. Though she first unhooked her laptop from its charger.

Alex made a b-line for more alcohol and sat on the couch. “Will he be alright?” I whispered, nudging Jack.

Jack took a quick glance at Alex before going back to watching 'The Hangover'. He shrugged, “After a little fight with Lisa, he'll drink, complain about her, puke, pass out, wake up with a hangover, and then call her to apologize.” He explained. I made an 'O' with me mouth a nodded, watching the movie.

“Is it just me, or does she get hotter every time she sings?” Gabe stepped into the bus, looking around to first make sure Sara wasn't hearing this. I stuck my foot out in front of him as he walked, causing him to stumble but not quite fall.

Gabe glared at me and I smiled innocently, pointing to my big boot that was still on my foot.

Twenty minutes later, Sara came through, frantic and in her Pjs. “My disk is gone.” She started rummaging through things.

“What disk?” Zack asked, already up to help.

“The disk with my movie!” Sara tugged at her hair. “It's a plain re-writable DVD disk label 'Yabu's Misadventures.” Sara informed.

“That's a stupid name.” Alex scoffed from the corner. Sara paused her search to glance at him, noticed the alcohol and went back to searching, ignoring him.

“Who do you work for anyway, we never..” Rian asked, searching now too. We all were except for Alex.

Sara glanced around briefly, “Matt's not here, is he?” She whispered.

“He went to bed about an hour ago.” Jack smiled.

“I work for Disney. This is my first movie they're actually letting me be the main animator for, I just was a back-up person before. And now!” Sara started tearing apart the bus more frantically. “I'm going to screw it up because I don't have the disk!”

“What's on it, anyway?” Jack asked the stupidest questions sometimes. Sara's patience was growing thin, I could tell.

“The movie!” She shouted. Then she quick run down of how she did it. She animated it, put the timing right so they could put the dialogue in, pieced it together in the right order, and put it on the disk.

The search took an hour, turning the bus completely upside down, before Sara gave up. She sank to the couch, head in her hands rubbing her eyes. “You can just get another disk can't you?” Rian asked hesitantly, only trying to help.

“Yeah, but it will put be about a day and a half behind schedule because I'll have to put it back together again on the disk.”

“Didn't you save?”

“Just twenty minutes of movie is too much computer memory. I need the 30 minutes on the disk and the next 20 by Friday.” She leaned back, defeated, to the couch, then stood up. “I'm going to get to work, then.” She sighed, grabbing a case of Dr. Pepper and heading off. It was going to be a long night for her.

“Why didn't she want Matt around when she said she worked for Disney?” Jack asked, clueless.

“It's obvious, isn't it?” Zack responded, looking at Jack like he was stupid. Jack gave him a blank look. “He would totally freak out on her!”

Jack made an 'oh' face and went back to reading the book, already halfway through the second in the series. Little did he know I was working on the fourth one across the room from him. I smirked a little, then Jack jumped up.

“Oh, my god! He's a traitor!” He yelled, coming over to me, I quickly shut my laptop. “He...WHAT?” He then sat on my lap, forcing me to move my laptop, and continued reading.

I sighed, maybe I should tell him to move...no...even though he's so bony, he's surprisingly comfortable.