I Swear I Love You

Jess’ POV

“You know you don’t have to help with setting up the stage Jess,” Jimmy called from the standing area. “That’s what we have roadies for.”

“I heard that!”

“Aw, he didn’t mean it Blueberry,” I replied, setting aside the cymbal I had been holding onto its place on the stand and wrapping my arms around the sulking male to my side.

“Blueberry?” Jimmy said, sounding confused. He pushed himself up onto the stage from where he had been standing in the pits. “Why the hell do you call Jason that?”

“It’s just a nickname,” I replied. “You don’t mind it, do you Blueberry?”

“Nah, I’m good with it,” he chuckled. He walked over to where I had put down the cymbal stand and adjusted it slightly, since he knew exactly how Jimmy’s kit was meant to be set up. I, on the other hand, just basically dumped whatever I was given near to where it was meant to be. It was just my first day anyway. “I just think Rev’s jealous that I got given a cool nickname from his wife, and he doesn’t get one.”

We both instinctively cringed on the use of ‘wife’. “You know Blue; we’re not exactly a married couple. By paper yeah, but that’s it.”

He finished with his adjustments and turned to us. “If you’re not going through with the whole marriage thing then why have you not taken your weddings ring off yet?”

For some unknown reason, I didn’t even know why myself. It felt… wrong to keep it off. Just taking it off to do the dishes or something was bad enough.

When neither of us answered, Blue simply laughed. “You two are so fun to play with. Hey Matt!” From off the side his brother walked on, one of three, extremely large bass drums bearing the band’s logo in his arms. “Apparently these two aren’t doing the marriage thing.”

“You’re shitting me.” He set down the bass drum to the side and stretched his arms above his head as he spoke. “Why haven’t they taken their weddings rings off yet then?”

“That’s exactly what I said.”

“I think they’re just in denial-”

“Snow!” I crossed my arms and pouted. “Stop ganging up against me with Blue!”

They both grinned, and replied the exact same words in perfect unison. “We’re the Berry brothers, aren’t we?”

“You’re pain in the asses, that’s what you are,” I grumbled. I ignored their laughter as I decidedly left them in favour of Jimmy, grabbing onto his hand and pulling him out the back. Of course being them as soon as I did hold his hand they started to wolf whistle, even going as far as humming the wedding march and dancing the waltz together as I was flipping them off. In the end I just launched a drumstick lying around at them, but unfortunately I missed by a long shot, which made them fall into hysterics. However just as I was rearing up to throw the twin to the one I had before, Jimmy stopped me and held out his hand.

“Let me.” Taking the stick he rose up his knee snapping it in half across it before aiming, and then launching, a perfect throw with each part to strike the pair of them in the head. “Bullseye, motherfuckers!”

Before they could retaliate Jimmy took over the role as leader and basically dragged me off the stage, laughing the whole way. “God did you see their faces?” He roared louder. “Fuck, I wish I had a camera…”

“You broke your drumstick Jimmy,” I pointed out flatly. Sure I had thrown one, but I’m sure it would be fine afterwards. Snapping one in half would certainly not be salvageable though, I’m sure.

He shrugged. “I’ve got others. It’s not like I pay for them.”

Being sponsored by various drumming companies meant that he didn’t really pay for anything- hell, the advertising he gives them probably covers anything he might ask for, and a lot more. “Well someone has to pay for them.”

He shrugged again. “Not me though.”

“You are one spoiled drummer,” I sighed, slipping my hand out from under his. In those few moments I did falter for a brief second as my fingers brushed against his wedding ring; before I quickly snatched my hand away. “Snow and Blue have a point though.”

“Huh?” He blinked at me, confused at the sudden change of subject. “Snow and Blue…?”

“Why do you still wear your wedding ring?”

“I…uh…” He glanced down at the ring and rubbed his fingers over it. “I don’t really know why. I just do.” His gaze lifted to mine. “What about you then? You haven’t taken yours off either.”

My fingers curled over the gold band, hiding it from sight. “It just-”

“Hey Jess!” We both turned to see Snow and Blue calling, waving their arms over their head to get my attention. “You still helping or what?”

“I’ll be there in a minute!” I stepped back from Jimmy, towards where the Berries were. “I’m sorry, I’ve got to go.”

--

Jimmy’s POV

“I’m sorry, I’ve got to go.”

Why is it that whenever you think you are about to discover something important, fate always steals the chance away?

“Jimmy?” I turned to see Val walking over. “Have you seen Jess?”

“Yeah, she’s just helping Snow and Blue at the moment.”

She cocked her head to the side. “Snow and Blue?”

“Oh for fuck’s sake, she’s got me saying it now…” I muttered under my breath, soon correcting myself. “I meant the Berries.”

“Oh.” Her confusion lessened slightly. “But why did you call them Snow and Blue?”

“It’s something Jess called them, it doesn’t matter,” I dismissed. “Why did you want Jess?”

“She asked me to come get her at three, since she wanted to do something.”

I frowned. “Did she say what?”

“Nope, no clue.” She peered around me just to see Jess helping Jason move an amp to the other side of the stage and set it up. “Why is she helping them anyway? You know they don’t need it.”

“I didn’t get to ask.”

She then turned back to me with a funny look. “What’s wrong with you today?”

“Nothing.”

“I don’t believe you,” she challenged. “Tell me.”

“Well I don’t care,” I retorted. “Nothing is wrong, so if you can’t believe that, then go find something else to believe.”

Without any real reason I walked off in a huff and just left her there, returning to the bus in favour of the comfort of lounging out in the entertainment part of the bus. Unfortunately everyone else in the band seemed to have had the same idea as we waited for the stage to be set up for sound check.

“What’s with the look?” Johnny asked as I walked in.

“Nothing,” I scowled, now feeling annoyed at the fact everyone seems to be bugging me. There was nothing wrong! I went to the bunks instead and fell onto mine, pulling the curtain shut to block off everyone else. Of course this doesn’t do anything for sound-proofing, so I spent the next half an hour just listening to everyone else talk- about me.

“Geez, what’s crawled up his ass?”

“Dunno. He went to go check on the stage, didn’t he?”

A short silence followed, before Zack offered up something. “Wasn’t Jess there?”

“Hmm… yeah. She’s helping the Berries set up isn’t she?”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. She said something about wanting to help because we’re letting her come on this tour for free or something.”

Someone sighed; I guessed at Brian. “She never changes. She can’t accept being given anything.”

“Now that you mention it, didn’t Rev offer her his bunk?” At that point I could feel all their eyes travel to the back and lock onto where I was, through curtain and all. “Fuck if I was her, I would’ve taken it. These aren’t even comfortable to sit on for a long time. My ass is numb.”

“It’s just how Jess is, she always thinks about other people before her herself.”

Their conversation paused as the sounds of multiple footsteps sounded against the stairs, leaving me wondering who it was. “We were just talking about you!”

Jess?

“Nothing bad I hope?” Definitely Jess. I could recognise her calm tone anywhere… it was just so soothing to listen to. Even now I could sleep to it.

“Nah, just wondering where you got up to. How come you decided to help the Berries out?”

“Just thought I should help out, that’s all.”

“Actually, there’s something I want to ask you about them,” the other female voice, Val, in our group said. “How come you call them Blue and Snow?”

“Oh.” I could imagine her playing with her fingers now, lacing them together and apart constantly, like she always did when she was embarrassed or nervous. “It just helps me to not get confused.”

“How can you get confused?”

“Well if I called them by names then there would be two Matts, so I decided to call Matt two Snow,” she explained. “Then Jason complained so I called him Blue.”

“Well I get that, but why those names?”

“Because they are both types of berries!” She responded brightly, saying it as if it was the most normal thing in the world. “Snowberry and Blueberry; or Snow and Blue for short.” Everyone was silent- I guessed from trying to suppress laughter. Either Jess ignored this, or was oblivious to it. “Where’s Jimmy?”

My body instantly froze; what should I do? It’s not like I could run away or something, the instant I left this bunk she would see me. Oh god this is awkward… why the fuck did I come back here?

“Rev? He’s in his bunk.” I growled quietly at who I thought was Matt speaking. “I think he might be sleeping.” Well. That might have saved him a bit.

“Oh.” She sounded disappointed. “Do you guys know where my laptop is?”

“Up top.”

“Thanks.” After she got it she must have started to walk away- but what I didn’t manage to figure out in time was that she was walking to where I was before the curtain was ripped open, and her smiling face flooded my sight. “I didn’t wake you did I?” She didn’t wait for my answer as she made me scoot across the bunk to make room for her, lying down next to me once there was enough room. Her laptop was balanced across her stomach. “I wanted to show you something.”

“Show me what?”

She just pressed her finger to her lips before tapping away at the keys, bringing up a window that filled the screen. For a few moments it was completely blank until it lit up, displaying what looked to be an empty tank.

Jess simply sighed and called out to the screen. “Olly!”

“What are you-?”

“God dammit. OLIVER!”

Almost instantly a face popped up on the screen, revealing a young blue-eyed male. His wet hair stuck its long lengths to the sides of his head while the blonde strands that were mildly dry spiked up, probably from where he had ran a towel over them.

His eyes grew wide as he peered into the screen. “Jessie?”

‘Jessie’ next to be instantly brightened up- although if it was from she was talking to a friend or the fact he was shirtless it was beyond me. For fuck’s sake. Here I am, stuck in a bunk watching my apparent wife go all lovey-dovey over her crush on a computer screen.

“Hey Olly,” she greeted. “Have you just come off a show?”

“How could you tell?” He chuckled, rubbing at his hair.

“Just a lucky guess.”

“Yeah yeah,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “You know, you sound kinda funny.”

Jess frowned. “I do not!”

“You’ve got some of that yank accent in you. It’s not as bad as when you first came over though.”

“Stop being so horrible Olly!” She whined. “You’re so mean.”

“You just need to stop being so sensitive.”

“But I’m a girl; you need to be nice to me.”

“I’d agreed with you if I didn’t know you could give as much as you got,” he replied, grabbing a chair from off-screen before sitting down. “So what brings you messaging down under?”

“Just missed my best friend.”

I rolled my eyes. Like that’s all they were.

“How’s Jade?”

“Sulking still, but she’s a fighter. Just like her Jessie.”

“Poor pup. I didn’t think she would miss me that much.”

“You know how she was, she adored you,” Olly replied. “Although she’s been kept busy for now. Coral is keeping her with the adults while training. She’s even picked up a few things.”

“She has?” Jess sounded so excited; almost like the pride a mother has for their daughter once they’ve learned something new. “What can she do?”

“Well she-” He cut himself off. “You know what, I’ll show you. Give us a few.”

As he flipped his laptop shut Jess and I were left with a blank screen. For these few precious minutes I talked to her about this Olly person. “So what’s up with you and that Oliver guy?”

“Olly?” She rolled her head to the side to look at me. “He’s a friend from work.”

“A friend?”

“Yes, a friend.” She frowned. “Why?”

“No reason.” I diverted my gaze upwards. “Just that by the way you looked at him I would have thought you two had a thing-”

“James Sullivan!” With every time someone used my real name instead of ‘Jimmy’ or ‘Rev’ I always recoiled, since it only ever meant one thing. Trouble. This time however, was different. “Are you jealous?” She laughed. “No Jimmy, there is nothing going on between Olly and me. We just work together at the sea centre. He performs in the dolphin show. I met him when I went to feed the dolphins in my first week.”

“And you’ve never… well, you know…”

“No, we are strictly friends.” That settled me slightly. “Not that I wouldn’t go there.”

I shot her a look. “You’re just trying to get a rise out of me.”

She smiled. “And it worked.”

It seemed that at some point the screen had lit up again showing a different place, and a very different looking Oliver. “Jessie?” He looked amused. “Is there something you aren’t telling me?”

She quickly turned and addressed the screen again with an innocent voice. “Whatever do you mean?”

He just shook his head and chuckled. “Never mind.” He turned, raised his hand to the corner of his mouth and yelled. “Hey Coral!”

A faint voice returned in reply. “What?”

“I brought Jessie along with me!”

The mentioned Coral soon appeared next to Oliver on the screen. She had a cropped pixie hair cut in a striking pink; her slender frame bound in a skin-tight wetsuit. I knew there was a reason everyone loved Australians.

“This isn’t Jessie; this is a laptop.”

He sighed. “Look at who is on the laptop Cor.”

Once she looked a bit harder her expression soon returned to the large smile she had when she first came over. “Oh, it is you Jessie! How have you been honey?”

“I’ve been good.”

“What you doing now?”

“Touring.” She chuckled at their expressions. “You remember I told you about my old friend Brian right? He’s in a band. I’m just keeping him company on tour.”

“You lucky thing!” She cried. “Anyone famous?”

“I don’t know if you’ve heard of them.”

“Come on honey, if they’re touring they must be big, right?”

“Well…”

“Tell me!”

“Geez Cor! God. They’re called Avenged Sevenfold.”

Both of them on the other side of the world grew silent, until they both then screamed out with the same expression and words. “You lucky bitch!”

Needless to say, Jess was shocked. “You’ve heard of them?”

“They are only like the best band ever!” Coral screeched, almost ripping her friend’s arm off out of excitement. “You so need to get me an autograph!”

“How about I do one better?” Up to now I had been just off-shot for the others to see- that is until Jess tilted the laptop to cover both of us. She did have to slide closer to side and ended up basically pressing herself against me. Male anatomy, don’t embarrass me now…“This is Jimmy. He’s the drummer.”

Not knowing what to do, I simply dislodged my hand from where it was stuck between me and the wall and waved- feeling mighty stupid as I was doing it. “Er… hey. I’m the Rev.”

If the first time was loud enough, this time they screamed loud enough that the others soon came over to find out what was going on. Of course when our two Australian fans then saw the rest of the band, their screams grew. “Oh my god! Oh my god! It’s really them!”

Zacky leaned in to look at the screen. “What the hell?”

Jess took the courtesy to introduce them. “Zacky, this is Olly and Coral, my friends from Australia. Crazy fans, this is Zacky from-”

“I know who he is,” Coral yelled, basically slamming Oliver in the side so that she had centre stage. “My God he’s even cuter in screen-person!” My friend had no problem telling people who she thought was hot. “You are one lucky chick Jessie! If only I could have one night with him-”

“Ooohkay, that’s enough for today,” Oliver said, pushing Coral out of sight. She was still screaming her love for Zacky despite not being seen, causing us all to laugh. “Zacky, you are one lucky man to be on the other side of the world right- for fuck’s sake Coral!” The pink-haired female managed to force her way back into view long enough to kiss the screen before she was pushed out again. “Sorry about her,” Olly choked out, the brunt of his energy being put into keeping the feisty female at bay. “Jessie, I’ve got to go. You know how Coral is- it’ll take a few hours before she goes back to only just hyper.”

“Don’t worry about it Olly; I’ll speak to you some over time.” She smiled. “Go kick-ass today.”

“Come on Jessie, you know I always do.”

“Of course. Goodbye.”

“Bye.”

As the link between the two worlds was lost we were left once again with a blank screen, but this time the picture wouldn’t come back. As I glanced over at Jess, the happiness she had over this past hour quickly dissipated into nothing as she gently closed her laptop lid shut.

“Jess?” I turned to her. “Are you alright?”

Then it returned with a spectacular fashion. “Of course I am Jimmy! I was hoping to show you Jade, but oh well. When Coral strikes, the world stops for her.” She murmured her apologies to the others as she crawled out of the bunk with her laptop. I quickly followed.

“Are you sure you’re alright?”

“Of course I am!” She smiled brightly and pointed to it. “See? Happy!” Turning her back on me she began to walk to the front of the bus. “I’m just going to nip to the shops for a few bits; anyone want anything?” We all shook our heads. “Alrighty! I’ll see you later!” She hopped down the steps was quickly vanished from sight.

“Her friends seem to have heard of you guys,” Val said. “You’ve got yourself a little fan base on the other side of the world.” Her tone then lowered; a mischievous glint in her eye. “Especially for Zacky it seems.” His cheeks became the same colour as the girl’s hair. “It’s a shame they live out there, don’t you think?”

Clearly still thinking about her, Zacky replied automatically. “Sure is.”

“Zachary, do remember we are on tour and you can’t drink, get absolutely trashed, buy a plane ticket to Australia and marry this girl, won’t you?” Once she saw my glare she just grinned. She was only doing it to piss me off. “We do have some important things to do.”

Just as I was about to flip her off her boyfriend then rounded on me. “Don’t you dare put that finger anywhere near her or I’ll snap it off.”

I stopped. “Geez, fucking harsh much Matt?”

“Sorry.” He grinned sheepishly. “I lose my head around Val.”

“Helplessly lovestruck,” Val murmured, twirling in the arms he had wrapped around her and kissing him.

“Wonderfully lovestruck,” he corrected, returning his lips to hers. “Fantastically lovestruck…”

“Stupidly lovestruck,” I muttered under my breath, making sure to keep it low enough so Matt didn’t hear. Sure he had a soft heart and normally wouldn’t lay a finger on any of his friends but anything concerning Val, and we were toast. With her around, he’s worse than blind.

“What was that?”

I waved my hand as I walked off. “Nothing. I’m going for a smoke; call me when it’s time for sound check.”

Just as I cleared the last steps I could have sworn I heard Val say one last thing before my feet hit the gravel.

“Unknowingly lovestruck.”