I Swear I Love You

Brian’s POV

“Hey Brian.”

Instinctively I moved away from the noise, or at least I thought the direction I chose was. Instead I hit something, leading me to open my eyes.

Someone chuckled above me. “That’s my leg you know.” Moving my gaze upwards I noticed Jess smiling at me. I shifted myself sharply into an upright position after I realised I was resting Jess’ lap, propping myself on my right arm. “Val asked me to wake you since we’re stopping at a diner for dinner.”

“What time is it?” I yawned, stretching my arms out above my hand. In the same motion my gaze fell upon the blank television screen. “How long have I been asleep?”

“A while.” She crossed her legs and rested her hands on top of them. “My legs have been so numb- you were sleeping on them most of the time.”

I scratched at the back of my head sheepishly. “Sorry. This bed is just so comfortable and-”

“And my lap is the perfect pillow?” Jess quickly finished. She laughed as I immediately began to protest against it. “Don’t worry about it; I’ve done it to you more times than I can count before.” She smiled wistfully. “Even though I have to admit the reasons I can’t count them is because I don’t remember doing it. How you put up with me when we were teenagers is beyond me; I don’t even know what magic you pulled to get me back in my bed in the morning without my parents finding out.”

“It took a while, but I finally perfected the art,” I replied casually, sliding off the bed and onto the floor. “Thank god you don’t weigh much though because it would have been harder to haul your ass up the wooden thing by your window.”

“That’s how you did it?” She followed behind me, surprised. “I always thought you used my keys and just sneaked through the house to my room.”

“Past your parent’s room? Fuck that,” I said. “Your mom can hear like a hawk.”

“How do you know that? You never met her.” Jess frowned. “You could only ever come over when they were out.”

“When you try and sneak around someone’s house with a paralytic girl on your back without her parents knowing you find out these things,” I replied. “I nearly shit myself when I heard your mom and dad coming up the stairs as I was just getting to your room- I had to get you in bed so they could see you and hide before they opened your door.”

Her eyes widened. “Did they find you?”

“Thankfully not, but it didn’t stop her dad searching your room after your mom heard my breathing,” I groaned, remembering the scenario well. “I ended up hiding under your covers since it was the only place I managed to get to before they came in.”

She stared at me blankly. “You… hid in my bed?”

“Well I… I didn’t have anywhere else to go,” I mumbled. “I didn’t want to imagine what your dad would do to me if he found out where I was…”

She shook her head in disapproval. “Well, I guess it’s something to tell your friends.”

“And what’s that?”

She grinned. “That you finally got a girl into bed.”

“Hey-!”

“Don’t take it badly,” she chuckled, taking hold of my hand and tugging on it to get me to move with her to the door separating Matt and Val’s room from the rest of the bus. “Come on; we better get to the others before they eat without us. I’m not having you keeping me from food, so hurry up.”

I just laughed, letting her pull me along with her. “You know, you’re beginning to sound like Jimmy.”

She faltered for a brief second- then carried on, dismissing my comment with a single laugh. “Maybe I’m just spending too much time with you lot.” She paused to turn back to me with a genuine smile. “Not that I would trade it for anything in the world.” She paused again thoughtfully. “Well, I could if I was offered a lifetime’s supply of chocolate because it’s well…” Her smile grew. “Nothing beats chocolate.”

--

“I’ll have the caeser salad, thank you,” Jess said to our waitress before handing over her menu. Afterwards she fell back onto the cushioning of the booth we were in and sighed.

Val looked over at her. “What’s wrong Jess?”

Her gaze snapped to Val. “Oh no, nothing’s wrong!” She responded brightly. “I was just remembering something, that’s all.”

“Something bad?”

“Something good actually.”

“Then what’s with the sad face?”

“Sorry; I didn’t realise I was doing it.” The sad smile she had been wearing disappeared- albeit only for a few moments until it returned again. “I just…” She laughed quietly to herself. “I guess you could say I’m feeling a bit lonely.”

“A bit… lonely?” Val echoed, looking at her oddly as if to say ‘what about us?’

“Oh, not that hanging out with you guys is bad or anything,” Jess rushed, waving her hands up in apology. “It’s just…” She sighed. “Touring is fun and all, but it isn’t home.”

“You miss your family?”

“In a sense,” she agreed.

“Do you want to go back to Orlando then?”

“Orlando…?” She blinked at Val in confusion. “Why would I want to go back there? We were there yesterday.”

The confusion was clearly infectious, if Val’s expression was anything to go by. “But you just said you missed your family…?”

“Oh, not that one!” Jess laughed. “My Australian family of course! It feels odd to be in the birth of Fall here when over there I’d be enjoying Spring. It’s so nice over there; you should all visit one day.”

“I’ll make sure to add it into the schedule,” Val replied warmly. “After all, I’ve heard there are some gorgeous-looking Australian men out there-”

“Hey!” Matt pouted, crossing his arms over his chest in a childish manner.

She just laughed, kissing him on his pouting lips. “Just to look at mind! You’re still my number one guy.”

Matt just huffed; muttering something under his breath while turning away from Val. From the fact that we could all see he was trying not to smile as she was pulling on his arms it was easy to tell he was just playing with her; he was never really angry in the first place. You couldn’t help but smile as their silent argument resulted in Matt suddenly turning and grabbing her by the shoulders, planting a deep kiss on her lips before wrapping his arms around her, pulling her tight to his chest. He rested his chin on her shoulder, both of them enveloped in the euphoria their love for one another created.

“Hey Jess?”

Despite not owning the name everyone else also looked up to the person who had called out to her, happily for us just in time to see a foam arrow get stuck to Jess’ head. She reached up slowly and dislodged it from her forehead in silence, the surprise of the event stilling her vocal ability. At least until she finally had the arrow in her hand.

“Excuse me Brian.” She shifted past me in the booth, arrow still in hand. Jimmy was grinning at her, the infamous foam gun that she had shot at all of us on the first day resting upon his shoulder.

“I’ve been wondering where you have been hiding this.” He patted the gun fondly. “I only found it by accident. You knew no one would look in the vegetable drawer of the fridge didn’t you?”

She looked back at me, outstretching her empty hand. “Could you pass me my bag please?” She took it still without bothering to reply to Jimmy, rummaging around in it before finally looking up. “Hey Jimmy?”

“Yes?” This time we watched as Jimmy ducked just before a foam reply shot past his head, followed quickly by his laughter as he straightened back up. “Ha! You miss-” Jess just laughed as Jimmy stopped mid-sentence, a perfectly fired second shot landing the foam arrow right in his mouth, muffling his words. He glared at her as he took it out, dropping the gun from his shoulder into an offensive stance in his hands. “You know Jess, this means war.”

No one apart from me seemed to wonder why the hell she kept a foam gun with her.

She grinned. “Bring it on Jimmy.”

This challenge preceded a full blown war between the two of them- resulting in Jess quickly ducking into the empty booth behind us and peering over the top and Jimmy basically ninja-rolling to the side, his gun just visible from beside the counter he was hiding behind. The people who unfortunately got given the night shift in the diner were all frozen in the wake of it all- although whether it was just from sheer boredom or from the fact Jess and Jimmy were attacking each other with foam arrows I couldn’t say. Then again, when Larry walked in and Jimmy accidentally fired a foam arrow at his head he spoke for everyone.

“Jimmy, pass me that gun.” Jimmy handed it over in silence, his expression torn between guilt and just wanting to laugh. “Thank you.” He raised the gun and aimed it at Jimmy’s forehead only a few inches from the barrel before pulling the trigger. “Bang.” The impact still shocked him into taking a step back despite knowing it was going to happen, leaving him to stand there with a surprised look on his face as we all fell into hysterics. Even Larry couldn’t help but let out a chuckle as he joined us in the booth, placing the gun on the table.

“What brings you to us Larry?” Val managed to choke out between her sniggers. “Have you come to check up on us?”

“Unintentionally, but I like how I turn my back for a second and you manage to turn the place into some kind of warzone,” he replied, oblivious to Jimmy creeping up behind him to the booth and his hand slowly reaching for the gun. Of course before he managed to curl his hand around it Jess popped out from the booth behind us and began firing, causing him to duck into the booth on the other side to ours, cursing. Larry just shook his head at their antics. “Where the hell did they get those guns?”

“You’ll have to ask Jess,” I interjected, pointing in the booth behind where I sat. “They’re hers.”

He didn’t seem surprised by this in the slightest. “I should have guessed.”

At that moment our waitress sidled up to our table again, a small notepad and pen in her hands as she turned to Larry. “Hello there sir, can I get you anything to-” She suddenly screamed as a foam arrow struck her notepad, causing her to drop it to the floor. Instead of apologising like any normal person would have done, Jess merely threw up her hands in irritation.

“I would have got him if it weren’t for you!”

“But you didn’t!” Jimmy jeered. The gun he had finally managed to successfully steal back from under Larry’s nose was once again in his hands. “You’re in for it now Jess!”

“Bring it on Jimmy!”

Larry just shook his head, apologising to the waitress before turning his attention to the two offenders. “If you are adamant in playing this stupid game, then go outside!”

Jimmy stuck out his tongue. “Party pooper.”

Larry’s eyes narrowed. “Get out James.”

He shrugged. “Whatever.” He raced towards the exit, stopping only to call back to his fellow opponent. “Come on then!”

We all watched as our drummer disappeared, presumably to find a place to hide and ambush Jess as she followed. Instead of walking head-first into the obvious trap however she paused to turn to us. “Anyone else want to have a go?”

All eyes flashed towards the gun in her hands- all eyes apart from Larry’s that is, who just seemed to disapprove generally of the whole concept. Johnny however thought the offer was too good to be true, and spoke up accordingly. “Fuck yeah! No way am I passing up the opportunity to shoot Rev! Get him back for all the short jokes…”

Jess smiled at her new recruit as he joined her side before returning her attention to the rest of us, bouncing the gun in her hand. “Any other takers?”

Still feeling a dull throb in my wrist I shook my head. “I’ll sit this one out.”

Matt meanwhile bit his lip, obviously itching to join in the fun. Instead of agreeing to though he turned to Val, his eyes pleading with her. She just rolled her own in reply and sighed. “Go on then.” He fist-pumped the air in victory and scrambled over the back of the booth in order to join the mini-army Jess had begun.

I was beginning to feel a bit bad for Jimmy now- he was so screwed, especially when Jess explained to the other two that they won’t have to share her gun since she had a few more stowed away on the bus. This lead them to then huddle up and work out a plan to get Johnny onto it in order to procure the extra weaponry involving Jess as a distraction and Matt as a secret ambush. Larry, Val and I watched this plan unfold through the glass window beside us; Jess walked out of the diner pretending to be holding the gun at her side but realistically not, since it was in the hands of Matt who jumped out and began shooting as soon as Jimmy appeared, obviously oblivious to her new recruits. As this was going on Johnny managed to slip by unnoticed and get back onto the bus, managing to find the extra guns and passing one to Jess. Then extreme foam warfare began.

“Surely they must be running out of those arrow things by now?” Val stated as we all shifted our gazes from the on-going battle.

I glanced back, noting the belts with foam arrows in each loop around their hips. Even Jimmy had one; I guess Jess thought it would only be fair to let him have one. Then again after about ten minutes the teams changed to the more balanced Jess and Matt against Johnny and Jimmy. Jess’ team had a slight edge over their opponents but over time it just resulted in everyone being a target, including your previous teammates.

“I doubt it.” Their food had been waiting in our booth for them for the past ten minutes. “I doubt they’re coming back anytime soon either.”

“Well at least they’re having fun,” Val replied simply, eating some of Matt’s fries. “The tour is stressful enough without being cooped up on the bus all the time.”

“As long as they don’t do anything stupid, then it’s all good by me,” Larry interjected. “If it doesn’t cost me anything as well, that’s a bonus.”

This statement was followed shortly by the distinct sounds of something breaking followed by a chorus of gasps and a sole shout of; “It wasn’t me!”

Larry’s shoulders dropped. “I spoke too soon, didn’t I?”

Val and I looked outside to watch Jimmy and Matt hurry past with what appeared to be part of a glass window, with Jess and Johnny holding smaller pieces following shortly after. They returned a few minutes later with Matt and Jason Berry, obviously panicking from the fact they kept on looking back over here as they pointed up at something. I couldn’t see what it was from here, but I guessed from the way the Berries started to gesture for various things that it was something that they knew had to be fixed before Larry noticed. It was a shame that he always had known something had happened, but at least if they got it fixed before he went out to see what it was they could play dumb.

“You are the manager of a rock band after all,” Val responded brightly, reaching over to pat one of Larry’s hands upon the table. “No one said it was an easy job.”

“But you could have at least warned me against things like this happening Valary,” he groaned. “You’ve done it before.”

“Well they didn’t do it with me.” She chuckled. “There wasn’t the luxury of being able to pay for it if they broke anything, so I guess back then they were more careful.” This reply just made him groan more as he slumped back against the booth, his hand pressed over his eyes.

“Would you like another coffee sir?”

He didn’t bother removing his hand as he replied to the waitress. “Please.” Another sigh escaped him as he thanked her and proceeded to take a sip of the russet liquid, shaking his head. “You lot are going to be the death of me.”

I laughed. “Well at least you’ll go down having fun.”