She's Got You High.

The Texas heat that I had heard so much about was practically non-existent when I stepped out of the van. It was cooler then it was in Arizona in late January, but the air still had that familiar dry feel to it. The sun was shining bright, and the sky was a lovely shade of blue. In short - it was a lovely day for the start of tour.

We were at a rest stop, our final one before we would get off the highway and make our way to the venue. There were a few snack and soda machines, and Garrett and I stood in front of them, making our decisions very carefully.

"Yknow, I could go for some cookies truth be told..." I said, as Garrett shook his head.

"Nah, I'm in a Doritos mood if anything."

"But you'll wipe your fingers all over the van seat!"

"...You really think the van is going to stay clean for the majority of the tour?"

We bickered like this for a while, before I got my cookies, and I grudgingly let Garrett get his Doritos. I went to get a sip of water, and when I came back, Garrett was holding two cold bottles of Cherry Coke. I smiled at him, as I took one of the bottles for my own. Garrett knew me like nobody else.

We got back in the van, and I was surprised to see John behind the steering wheel. Everyone was awake for this final leg of the road, seeing as once we got to the venue, unloading and sound check would begin. I could tell Garrett was excited, from the way he kept changing subjects. All I could think of, however, was home. I missed my dog. I missed my bed. I missed not being confined in such a small space, with a bunch of confusing boys. But it was either this, or be away from my best friend for a few months, and not graduate.

Yeah, this sounded better.

As I had predicted, Garrett was already eating his Doritos, the orange cheese residue being wiped on the van seat. I wasn't even hungry. My Coke and cookies lay discarded on the to the left of me. Garrett looked at me, and he could tell something was wrong, but for the first time in the longest time, he didn't ask me anything about it. I'm sure he had a million different things on his mind at the moment. I'm sure this was exciting to him.

I closed my eyes, and sighed. I just wanted to be at the venue already. Maybe hearing some live tunes and being out of this damn van would cheer me up. But that nervous, anxious feeling still twisted in my stomach, finding its way deep to the roots, the core of everything. I felt sick, and I just wanted out of this already.

I could barely hear the music coming through the speakers of the van - they had it turned down low, so everybody could talk. I felt so uncomfortable - I barely knew any of the people in here, save for Garrett and John. John shouldn't even count - smoking a cigarette and telling each other our favorite things doesn't really count as knowing someone. I tried listening in to Garrett's conversation with Pat and Kennedy - something about which songs they should play, who they were excited to see. Nothing was exciting to me. I just wanted to go-

All these thoughts were erased from my head when I felt Garrett's hand on top of my own. I looked up at him, and he offered me a small smile. A feeling of security washed over me, washed over the damn root in my stomach. His fingers fell through and connected with my own, and he gripped my hand, tightly. I saw him scooting over towards me, his head coming closer, his lips near my ear "It's gonna be alright, June. I promise you. Just wait till tonight. It's gonna be alright..." It felt almost hypnotic, the way he would calm me down. This same song and dance had been going on since we were kids. He was always telling me it was going to be alright. He was Garrett the Brave after all.

When we played Kings and Queens as kids, he was always the knight in shining armor, coming to save me from Trey the "dragon". Sometimes I got a bit too overwhelmed, and I would end up crying as the "dragon" attacked. Garrett would run in, but instead of attacking his nemesis (who had now given up, and was standing there awkwardly as I bawled) he would rush over to me, to make sure I was alright. "It's okay, Junie. It's alright! I got the dragon, its gonna be alright. It's gonna be alright...."

"June?"

I snapped out of the memory, looking up at Garrett. The van had stopped moving.

"We're here, June."

---

The boys and their crew unloaded their equipment rather quickly. I looked over the day sheet that Tim had received - I had heard of a few of the bands on this tour, but not all of them. The Maine went straight into soundcheck, so I went in the venue, and watched from the back of the floor.

Garrett became a different person when he was stepped onto a stage - I'm sure any boy with a guitar in his hands and a room full of girls below him does. But it wasn't a bad thing. If anything, it was more like a metamorphosis. He was so happy up there - I could see it in his eyes, in his smile. He genuinely enjoyed himself and what he did, and his positive energy almost filled me up with joy. Even during a soundcheck, he was having fun.

As soon as that was over, I found myself bored, with nothing better to do for the next 3 hours till doors opened. I was sitting on the floor at this point, barely paying attention to Danger Radio soundcheck. My laptop was out in the van, and I was far too lazy to get up or move. I was perfectly content to lay on the floor and listen to the techs check the microphones and the volume of the drumset. A shadow appeared over me a few minutes later, and I turned around to find Garrett.

"What are you doing, silly?" he said, offering out his hand. I took it, and he pulled me up from the floor. "Is soundcheck that exciting to you?"

"It's not like I've got anything better to do!" I argued back, and Garrett just laughed, his smile bright. His hand still firmly clasped around my own, I followed him backstage, into one big communal room, where various members of the various bands were hanging out. I noticed John was in the corner, plugged away into his laptop, fingers pounding into the keys. He looked focused, determined. I wondered what the hell he was up to. I sat down next to Garrett, and he handed me my laptop from the table.

"I got it out for you. I figured you didn't want to go back outside..." he mumbled, avoiding eye contact with me.

"Thanks, Gar." I said with a smile, as I booted it up. The internet was my biggest time waster, and probably my biggest distraction. Time went by so fast, I didn't even realize that John had left the room, or that Garrett had fallen asleep to the right of me. I sighed. This could go on record as one of the most boring days of my life. I looked at the clock on my computer - it was already 5:50. Doors were at 6, with the show starting at 6:30. I figured I should wake Garrett up, find the other boys, and get them ready to go.

"Garrett..." I nudged him lightly, but he didn't move. "Gar, get up." More nudging on my part, but still no response from him. "Garrett!" I finally yelled, practically shaking him, and his eyes opened, slowly but surely.

"Oh...hey June. Whassamatter?" He mumbled, his sleepy breath hitting me dead on in the face. I tried not to gag.

"You took a nap. I figured it was time to get you up. Doors are gonna open, you goof." I rustled his hair slightly. "So get up." He nodded and assured me he would, and I backed off. I sat down in a chair and closed my own eyes, dosing off just for a minute, before I felt someone prod me in the chest, and hard.

"Payback's a bitch, isn't it?" I opened my eyes to Garrett's familiar voice, and saw a giant smirk on his face.

"You bitch!" I yelled, quickly lunging up to punch him in the stomach. Instead, Garrett stopped me in my tracks, and pulled me into a hug, his head resting on top of my own.

"I'm sorry, Junebug." He whispered into my ear, so that only I could hear. "I just had to! It was so temping."

I never knew what Garrett and I actually were. Best friends, yes. But best friends with incredibly close boundaries was more like it- we've slept together (not in that sense), we held hands, hugged, the occasional kiss on the forehead or cheek. The topic never came up between us - we were just that close from birth. But part of me wondered time to time if there was anything. Or if it was just friendly human nature kicking in.

Garrett let go of me a moment later, and smiled down at me, a light kiss on the forehead to accompany the motion. "Let's go find the other guys." he said, and I followed him out of the room, to wherever he was dragging me next, the blush creeping up my cheeks.

---

The other guys were in various places. We found John sitting in the van, claiming he needed to "avoid the noise", Jared and Kennedy were helping The Secret Handshake get set up for the night, and Pat was unfortunately, in the bathroom. Garrett and I went to watch the opening bands for a few minutes, his hand a constant on my own. Finally though, it was time for The Maine to get warmed up and ready. I stood in the back of the room, as they played with their guitars, and listened to John do some half-assed vocal warm ups. Eventually, they broke into their pre-show ritual of "We Like to Party", and I smiled watching how ridiculous these 5 boys were. Garrett approached me a minute later, his bass guitar hanging off his lanky frame.

"You stoked?" I asked him, his grin stretching from ear to ear.

"You have no idea." he said, putting a hand on my head, playing with my hair, messing my bangs up. His hand was shaking.

"Are you always....this excited?" I asked, attempting to save my hair and make it not look like a hurricane scene. Garrett just laughed, and I heard Tim calling out his name, making motions towards the stage.

"Shit, June, we gotta go!" he yelled, stating the obvious. He grabbed my hand with his own, his other holding his bass protectively, as we sprinted (more like I was dragged...) towards the door that led to the stage. The other guys were already making their way on there, and Garrett was panting for breath as he started up the stairs on the side of the stage. But halfway up them, he leaped back down, planted a quick kiss on my cheek, and then ran up to the stage, much to the cheers of the crowd below him.

I could feel the blush creeping up my cheek, but I didn't think much of it. I walked out from backstage and into the crowd, to watch the boys from a distance. And what I saw surprised me.

The five guys I had gotten to know over the last 48 hours took on such different personas when on stage. Hyper, crazy Pat looked focused and in control of his element, as he pounded away on the drums. Kennedy had a grin plastered on his face, looking out at the various faces in the crowd, singing along to himself. Jared was playing with skill, his eyes on his guitar. Garrett almost looked pissed out, but a smile would break out along his face every once in a while.

And John. This was the John I had expected to meet - flirtacious, confident frontman John. He could sing pretty damn well - I had never payed much attention to his voice until now. He had a presence that radiated throughout the whole building. You could just tell how good he was. I kept staring at him, as much as I didn't want to. He was a pretty bad dancer, at least when it came to his own music. He kept fixing his hair with his free hand, pushing it out of his eyes so he could see. The club was small - sometimes it looked like he had seen me, a smirk making its way to his face, but I felt like I was seeing things. I probably was - the heat making it's way to my head.

They played beautifully, and that was an understatement. All the feelings of homesickness, of regret about doing this washed away as they began their set. It had been a long while since Garrett and I had gone to a show that wasn't one of his. Live music always made me feel, to sound cheesy, alive. It cheered me up. To see my best friend up there, doing something that he loved with all of his heart...It was indescribable.

And too short. Before I knew it, they had finished their set, and Pat was tossing his drumsticks in the crowd, John chucking his water bottle carelessly behind him. I went backstage a few minutes later, giving Garrett time to chill out and breathe. I was really hoping he'd be less sweaty, but I discovered he wasn't, as he embraced me in a hug once I got back there. I went to go get a bottle of water from the fridge in the room, and when I turned around, I was stuck in front of John.

"Well, what'd you think?" He asked, smiling down at me, wiping away the sweat from his forehead.

"It was great, you guys were......" I started, but didn't know how to finish. I didn't want to say "great" and sound stereotypical, and I didn't want to use some bogus verb. John just laughed - I never noticed his laugh until then. It was high pitched, short and sweet. Awkwardly adorable.

"C'mon, we gotta start pre-gaming!" He said, putting an arm around my shoulder, walking me towards the door. I shot an apologetic look back at Garrett - him and I were supposed to chill after their set. But apparently, that wasn't going to be the case.

"Pre game for what?" I asked. John laughed even harder at this, as we made our way out into the streets of Houston.

"You have no idea what you're in for tonight, kid."