She's Got You High.

Surprisingly, the first 8 hours in the van weren't that bad. I was expecting to get sick of everyone really quickly, but it was exactly the opposite - the whole time there was constant chatter, and everyone seemed so nice and open. The knot in my stomach went away almost immediately, and I ended up feeling at ease.

I must've fallen asleep at some point however, because I woke up in the back of the van - the land of pillows and blankets enveloping me. We had stopped moving - a miracle considering how long we had been driving for, and I could hear voices dully talking up front. A minute later, the back van doors opened up, and I felt someone climb in, and lay down beside me. I didn't dare look to see who it was. I just kept my eyes shut and tried my hardest to go back to sleep. I felt the van lurch forward, and we were on the road again. As much as I tried however, I felt wide awake. I figured I'd see who I was stuck beside for the next who knows how many hours. I sat up, rubbed my eyes, and was only a bit surprised by the pair of green eyes that hit mine. We were both silent for a moment, before one of us finallly spoke.

"So, you're awake..." John mumbled, smiling at me.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I was confused, sleep still blinding my senses.

John sat up slightly, his head resting against the back row of seats. "I have a really hard time sleeping, especially when in a car. So usually when they send me back here, I lay awake by myself. At least this time I have someone to talk to..."

I felt awkward. Not even yesterday, I had never had a full conversation with John, and here he was, treating me like I had known him for years. I sat up myself, and it was relatively quiet between us. The rest of the van was silent, except for the faint music coming from the speakers.

"Everyone else is asleep. Well, except for Jared. Since he's driving and all." John said, almost like he knew what I was thinking about.

"Yeah, I figured..."

More silence. I could feel John's eyes on my face, studying me. I wondered what he thought of me. How awkward I was. My dull hair, my even duller eyes.

"So." He started, and I could see his body shift slightly to face me. "I have a game."

"This isn't going to end up like one of those Saw movies, is it?" I asked, eying him curiously. The last thing I wanted was to be chopped up into bits by some old man and his messed up "game".

"No, not at all." he laughed, before he came back to his serious stature. "Ever hear of truth? I mean, it doesn't have to be exactly like that, but-"

"Yeah, I get what you mean." I cut him off. This would be the easiest way to get to know John, so I figured I'd go along with it.

"Oh, good. Let's start easy here: Favorite band?"

"Easy. Brand New." While Garrett had Ryan Adams as his standby, Brand New was my own. The voice of Jesse Lacey always knew how to calm me down, or at least understand me. Brand New meant the world to me, literally. "What about yourself?"

"I'm a bit partial to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. In all honesty, I don't have just one band. It's more like a few." I nodded, knowing that same feeling all too well.

And the night went on. The sky kept getting lighter and lighter, and John and I were still talking. I figured out that he hated the color green, his favorite meal was steak, and he was over 6 ft tall, easily towering over my 5'6" frame. And I let him know things that I usually didn't reveal in the first 48 hours of meeting a person - I almost drowned when I was 4, I wore a size 8 in shoes, and as much as I loved music, I was completely tone deaf. I was so close to sleep - somehow during the course of the game, I had ended up laying next to John, my head resting on his shoulder. My eyes were closed, and I barely heard John asking me the questions anymore. I was so close to just letting myself go, when I heard the next question.

"Relationships?"

As sad as it sounded, I had never been in a relationship. I had liked boys, but nothing ever came to fruition. I was always one step away, and then something would fall over, crack, break. Thankfully, Garrett was there for me during every single one of those times, even if he did chastise me for being a fool. I didn't know how to answer John's question, however.

"I've...never been in one, truth be told." the words felt odd as they made their way out of my mouth, into the airwaves. "I mean, almost, but...yeah." I stopped myself. I probably sounded like a fool.

"Someone as pretty as you never in a relationship?" I heard John murmur, and the fire rose to my cheeks a moment later. Thank god it was dark in the van. "They're not all what they're cracked up to be, anyways. You'll be in one eventually, kid."

"Eventually..." I murmured, and I felt my eyes get heavy yet again. The sun was just starting to rise, and I felt at peace with everything. John smelled different then Garrett - heavier, unfamiliar. But it's the unfamiliar that everybody craves in their life, right? I shut my eyes, my head buried into John's shoulder. And yet again, sleep enveloped me.

-----

The first thing I felt when I woke up was skin sticking on skin. The familiar sweaty feeling that I knew all too well from living in the Arizona heat my whole life. My eyes flickered open, and all I could see was a blurry bare chest.

John.

The light was pouring in the windows of the van now, shining down and hitting the spot to the right of me. Morning had come, and rather fast. And somehow during the last couple of hours, John had lost his shirt. It was awkward more then anything, but somehow I felt...alright?

I sat up, stretching out my arms. I could hear voices in the van, meaning that everyone else was awake. I tapped Pat, who was sitting in the seats right infront of us, and he turned around.

“Hey Garrett, she’s finally up.” I heard him say. Two rows up, Garrett’s head snapped to face me, and a smile was adorning his face, his blue eyes shining in the sunlight. I was brought back to reality by Pat’s voice - “You wanna get out of the back? Leave John to drool.”

I looked over at John – for a guy who said he had difficulty with sleeping, he looked pretty gone. I could see his shirt tossed in the corner, his hand still where it was when I woke up, still draped across where my back had been moments before.

“Yeah, get me out.” I murmured, and Pat moved out of the way. I crawled through the small space between the headrests, and landed with a thud on the back seat. A minute later, I made my way up to Garrett's row, where an open seat next to him was waiting for me.

"Sleep good? You were out like a light, so we put you back there. " Garrett said, as I rested my head on his shoulder. The GPS on the dashboard said we were only 2 hours from the venue - the time on the clock read 12:37. The only thing I could do was nod - I was recounting the events of last night. I learned more about John then I had ever wanted to. It was surprising, but I felt alright. Calm. Garrett's fingers laced their way between my own, and silence was kept between us, as I adjusted to being awake, being on the road, and the feeling in my stomach that told me that I was up for a lot more then I thought.