I Swear I Love You

After last night Val had a lot to think about once they had all stumbled back to their hotel rooms in the early hours of the morning, wondering how one Australian girl had managed to wrap three of her best friends around her little finger in the space of a month. One of those three Jess was married to.

“Val?” Beside her in the bed Matt rolled to the side, lifting his head and sleepily resting it against her shoulder. He glanced over at the early time on the clock sitting upon the bedside table and yawned accordingly. “What are you doing awake?”

“I’m just thinking.”

“What about?”

“The love square that seems to be happening in the band right now.”

Matt yawned, snuggling closer to her, trying to fight off the sleep desiring to reclaim him. “The Jess thing?”

“Mmmhmm.”

“Want to talk about it?”

Noting the fact he was barely keeping his eyes awake now she shook her head, turning her head to the side to kiss him softly on the nose. “It’s alright; you go back to sleep. We’re meeting up with Larry later to discuss the tour and you know how funny he gets if you turn up with a hangover.”

“Alright babe.” He yawned again, his head falling back against the pillow as he turned onto his back, asleep again on moments. She smiled softly as he took back so easily to dreaming, just wishing that she too could just do the same.

The woman… man’s only true weakness.

--

“Had too much fun last night Valary?” Larry, the band’s tour manager, commented as she walked in, noting how she was leaning rather heavily against Matt. She was a vast contrast to her comparatively chirpy boyfriend. “Matt seems to be perfectly fine.”

She yawned in response, leading Matt to answer for her. “She didn’t sleep well.”

Larry frowned. “Something wrong?”

She smiled. “Just had a lot on my mind.”

“Well if you need an ear, you know where I am.”

As Val thanked him the door opened again and the others walked in, the certain girl that had cropped up in her thoughts last night perched upon the back of Zacky. She shot him a funny look as he dropped Jess gently to the floor before taking the unoccupied seat beside her, his cheeks instantly flushing before he looked away and started to concentrate on their tour manager for all he was worth.

Once everyone was seated, Larry began. “Well as you know Bat Country is officially dropped in a month on the 27th and we begin the Cities of Eviltour on the 7th. The bus is just going over last minute checks now; we’ve got four bunks and a larger room at the back for Matt and Val.”

“How come they get their own room?!” Jimmy whined. “I want my own room!”

“Until you have a reason for me to give you one, you get a bunk like the rest of them.”

He pouted. “Well I’m married; doesn’t that count for anything?”

Larry’s jaw dropped. “You’re what?!” He looked at the others each in turn before they finally settled again on the drummer after a quick glance to the gold band on his finger. “When did that happen?”

“About a month ago.”

“To who?” His eyes drifted to the one face he didn’t know. “You?”

Jess grinned, waving her left hand, showing off the gold ring. “I’m Jess.”

He took her offered hand and shook it, his laugh rocked by the sudden revelation. “Well I never thought I would see that happening anytime soon. May I ask where you met?”

The wedded couple glanced at each other, sharing the same, guilty look before the female of the pair plucked up the courage to answer. “On the set of Bat Country.”

“I thought you shot Bat Country a little over a month ago…” He said slowly. Realising that he hadn’t made a mistake, he forced back the urge to shake his head in disapproval and went in the opposite direction with a smile. “Well let me say my congratulations to you both. However-” He turned to Jimmy. “No room.”

“What? That’s so not fair!” Jimmy protested. “I’m married, they-” He thrust an accusing motion at Matt and Val. “They aren’t even engaged!”

Val shot daggers at him. “Well at least our relationship is-”

She was cut off as Matt’s hand suddenly shot to her mouth, muffling the last part of her sentence, much to Larry’s confusion. He could only watch as Matt murmured something into his partner’s ear before tentatively removing his hand, but receiving a full-on glare for his trouble.

Larry was stumped at their antics. “Am I missing something here?”

Glancing at Val’s silent glaring posture Matt shook his head and smiled. “Nope, everything’s fine.”

The tour manager didn’t seem to be buying the story in the slightest but went with the notion that if the band weren’t telling, he wasn’t going to bother asking. “Well, moving on then. As I was saying we have one room at the back-” He looked briefly between Jimmy and Val, who seemed to be having some unspoken staring contest. “-so you can fight over that, and four other bunks. The cupboards will be fully stocked from day one but obviously we’ll need to pick up other supplies while we’re out on tour. When we’re in the cities, we’ve got pre-booked hotel rooms waiting for us, but otherwise you’ll be sleeping on the bus.”

“What about you?” Zacky asked. “Where are you staying?”

“I’ll be with the Berries and the roadies on the other bus.”

“You’re risking that?” Matt laughed. “Good luck with that man.”

“They’re alright,” he replied, having a light chuckle himself. “Although I do have to admit it is very…” He thought for the right word. “…interesting to say the least. Anyway we’ve 35 dates lined up for you beginning in San Diego ending with Las Vegas.” Matt high-fived Zacky over the top of Val’s head at the sound of Vegas, something which just seemed to put her in a darker mood; Larry just hoped Matt would do something to make it up to her later. “Most of the shows have a day or two break between them but if the venue is close by then it’ll be on the following day. About two hours before each show we’ll have a sound check then you can go off and do what you like until you get on stage.”

“We’re allowed to go and explore in between dates though, right?” Jimmy asked. “I mean, if you have an extra day in the place, we’re not stuck in the hotel are we?”

Larry shook his head, much to Jimmy’s relief. He hated being stuck anywhere if he could help it. “As long as you don’t get yourself arrested, feel free to do what you like. Just remember that when the bus needs to leave, you need to get your ass on it.”

“Is there room to bring anyone else?” Johnny asked quietly. “I know there are only four other bunks but I don’t mind sharing or whatever…”

“Who have you got in mind?”

His cheeks flushed with a faint scarlet. “Well I met this girl…”

Matt started to grin. “Someone’s taken the Christ’s fancy?” Thankfully for him this seemed to brighten up Val slightly as she too, became intrigued to find out the answer. However unlike her boyfriend, she had the intuition to make a guess. “Who’s the lucky girl?”

“Well…” He was cut off as his cell began to ring, his cheeks glowing brighter as he took a quick glance down at the caller ID and proceeded to then excuse himself from the room. The meeting momentarily paused as everyone’s attention centred upon the closed door, knowing that Johnny was just on the other side. When he re-entered the room everyone noted how he had a huge smile plastered on his face, dropping to confusion only when he noticed the smirks on the faces in front of him. “What?”

“Who is your friend?” Val teased, stringing out each syllable of her question. “Was it Lacey?”

The smile dropped as he muttered something inaudible under his breath as he returned otherwise silently to his seat, choosing to stare at his hands so not to reach the gaze of any of his friends. Jess shot him a sympathetic look just before his eyes dropped, receiving a small smile of gratitude in return.

Meanwhile Larry just shook his head in disbelief despite knowing this is exactly how the band worked. Nothing was ever straightforward with them- especially when going over details they might be interested in. Some disruption would crop up sooner or later, and they had already had their fair share of them. All he hoped for was that he could go over the rest without any more.

Clearing his throat to get everyone’s attention again, he tried once again to continue. “As for any additional guests you want to take along then that’s fine with me as long as they aren’t just going to be your play things, but you’ll have to find space for them.” He looked all the guys swiftly in the eye- all of them except Johnny that is. “No strippers on the bus.” He raised his voice as they opened their mouths to protest, silencing them instantly. “AT ALL. No visiting the bus, nothing. If you want some, go to a club. No one is to set foot on the bus unless they are on the tour, you got that?”

All of them looked mildly depressed, answering rather lamely. “Okay.”

“And well-” He sighed, his trail of thought stopped after the distraction of providing them with the no-stripper-zone on the bus. “Well that’s all I can think of for now. I’ll be seeing you guys on the 7th; I’ll call if I remember anything else I need to tell you.” A phone call from their label called an end to their meeting as he swiftly left the room, presumably tying up any loose ends over the upcoming tour, leaving the band, Val and Jess, alone in the room.

“So what’s the plan for today?” Matt asked. No one offered anything. “Zack?”

He shrugged. “No idea.”

“Jim?”

“Nope.”

“Johnny?”

The bassist was still staring at his hands, simply shaking his head instead of speaking. Matt sighed. He was bored- sure he still had a slight hangover from the night before that never stopped him from doing stuff before. Really the only thing stopping him was the fact he had nothing to do. It was only when his stomach began to growl that he got an idea.

“How about going out for lunch?”

At the sound of food Jimmy instantly perked up. “Hell yeah, I’m in for that. I’m starved; I didn’t have anything before coming out here. So where do you want to go?”

“What about that café on the beach?” Zacky suggested. “Might as well soak up the sun while we still have it; we’ll be on tour in a couple of weeks anyway.”

“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Matt replied, gently nudging the blonde next to him who seemed to be falling asleep on his shoulder. “What do you think Val?”

“Fine by me,” she yawned, standing up and stretching. “I’m going to have to go home and change first though.”

Matt nodded. “Right, so we’ll meet in an hour at Benny’s?”

With a swift nod everyone soon got up from their respective places and began to file out the room, Jess hanging behind after she noticed Johnny still sitting silently on the chair. Jimmy noticed this and began to ask her if she was coming when she simply said she would meet him by the car before taking a seat once again beside the moping bassist.

“What’s the matter?”

He didn’t answer, responding to her with just a sigh.

“I’m guessing the guys getting on your back got you down?” He still didn’t answer so she moved to the floor, crouching by his feet, resting her arms on his knees and peering up at him. “Come on Johnny; you can talk to me. I might not have been around long but I’m a good listener. Australia does that to you.”

Johnny laughed quietly at her words. “How can Australia make you a good listener?”

“When you have the ocean all around you, you can’t help but listen to them speaking sometimes,” she replied, smiling as she got him to talk. “I think they are all just jealous, you know?”

“Jealous? What about?”

“Well this Lacey girl obviously!” Jess responded brightly. “Other than Matt, all the others are single, right?” Johnny nodded. “So if you now have someone, it probably is making them feel a bit lonely. Friends are great and all, but when you have someone you truly care about then that’s when you know you have made the best friend of all.”

“You know Jess, technically Jimmy isn’t single,” he pointed out, obviously just trying to find a flaw in her logic, wanting to stay in his silence. “So your plan doesn’t really work out.”

“Oh don’t be like that,” she said, sounding almost cross. “I don’t even remember marrying the guy and we’re getting a divorce anyway! So to me, our relationship never happened, so Jimmy and I are both single in my eyes. If he came back with a girl one night and then claimed her to be his girlfriend the next, I wouldn’t mind.”

“You wouldn’t?” He looked up from his hands to her. “Truthfully?”

At the word ‘truthfully’ Jess couldn’t help but fidget uncomfortably, her bubbly smile dropping slightly. “Well truthfully I guess I would be a bit bothered, but I can’t stop him from doing anything. I’d feel that way about any of you guys.” She laughed. “I guess that’s just me being a bit selfish though- always wanting to have my friends just for me and no one else.”

“You aren’t selfish Jess,” Johnny said. “You are one of the most genuine people I know. Hell if I hadn’t met Lacey I sure would be debating asking you out right now!”

“Aw, that’s sweet. I would have gladly accepted though.”

He laughed alongside her. “Sorry kiddo, bit late there. Although one of the others will probably ask you soon enough.”

Her laughter stopped there, leaving his alone. “What do you mean by that?”

“Come on Jess, surely you’ve seen it right? I mean, I know that you can’t really see it yourself but Jimmy, Brian and Zack are always stuck to you! If you weren’t legally married to one of them I think you would find yourself the subject of an extreme love shape there.”

She frowned, obviously thinking over what he had said before dismissing it entirely with a shake of her head. “Don’t be silly Johnny,” she said briskly, pushing up from the floor. “Brian and I have been friends for ages, Jimmy I just happen to crash with at night and Zack’s a good friend, just like you, Matt and Val. They are not interested in me; we’re just having fun as friends. Anyway I’ve cheered you up so I’m going to go back to Jimmy’s to change, so I’ll see you in like an hour, right?”

He just grinned at her, amused by her oblivious eyes to his friends’ behaviour. “Yeah, I’ll see you then.”