Sequel: A Cherry Sunset ›
A Dawn I Thought We'd Never See
Shiners + Gossip
“It feels so damn good to be clean.” Victoria stated randomly causing me to giggle. We were back in our tiny van after a very nice rest in the hotel and hot showers.
“True that.” I high fived her while keeping my eyes on the bus in front of us. We usually tried to follow a bus so we didn’t accidentally get lost, although it didn’t always work.
“I think this is the turn.” Victoria turned down the radio and we both watched as the bus turned its blinker on. “I’m good.”
“I wonder who we’re following.” I stated out loud to see if Victoria knew, but she just shrugged. It took several more minutes to get pass security and park. I got out of the car, bending over to stretch my leg muscles that were killing me from the long drive.
“Nice view, love.” There were a few low whistles that accompanied the comment from behind me, then a few chuckles. I straightened up and turned around to roll my eyes at the boys that were now unloading from the bus we’d followed. Their accents were vaguely familiar.
“Like it tha’ much, eh?” Victoria came up from behind me and leaned on my shoulder. I tried keeping in my giggles as she imitated their accents quite nicely. “Too bad, she’s mine!” She wrapped her other arm around me so it was like she was hugging me around my shoulders from behind, giggling as she did so causing my laughter to finally erupt.
“Great, a couple lesbo’s.” The last boy stepped off the bus with a pair of big, dark shakes on. His voice was starting to become way too familiar.
“She was joking, jerk!” I spat back and saw Victoria pull back in shock, her mouth hanging open just a bit.
“Oi, don’t fuss o’er Oleh,” the one who’d commented on ‘the view’ spoke now, waving casually at Oliver who was stalking away without paying us any attention. “’E’s in an even worse mood today than usual.” Here he smirked just a little as he and one other boy stepped closer to us. “Got ‘imself a shiner last night.” He chuckled and tapped at the corner of his left eye.
“Won’t tell us what ‘appened, jus’ mumbles ‘bout door knobs.” The other boy shrugged and I noticed him ogling over Victoria. “I’m Lee, by the way.” He held his hand out toward Victoria and she giggled while she shook it. I rolled my eyes, already knowing what that giggle meant.
Victoria didn’t share my same views about dating on tour. She instead liked to have as much fun on tour as possible. However, this would complicate her ‘fling’ thing with Cory or vice versa.
“And I’m Tom.” The first one smiled at me.
“Emily,” I clutched my chest, “and this is Victoria, but you can call her Tori.” I smirked, knowing how much she loathed being called Tori. To my surprise her smile didn’t falter the tiniest.
“Would you mind helping me carry a few of the heavy boxes of merch?” Victoria was obviously and shamelessly flirting as she kept a hold of Lee’s hand.
“Wouldn’t mind at all, meh ladey.” He kissed her hand and she led him over to the back of our van.
“Cory is gonna be pissed when he sees this.” I shook my head and watched as she batted her eyes and he carried our boxes.
“Coray?” Tom’s smooth voice and nice accent pulled my thoughts away from them and focused on us.
“Cory is madly in love with Victoria.” I shrugged and found myself looking around, wondering where Oliver went.
“Like I said, don’t fuzz o’er ‘im.” My head snapped strangely back to Tom. It was like he could read my mind. “’E’s not so much a people person.”
“No kidding.” I added dryly and leaned against the van. Tom smiled.
“I take it yeh already met ‘im, eh?” He chuckled and leaned against the van beside me.
“He ran into me.” I corrected and Tom put his hands up in defense.
“Least ‘e didn’t spit on yeh, did ‘e?” His expression quickly turned to worried as mine changed to disgust.
“Ew, gross! He normally spits on people?” Tom laughed at my response.
“Well, I know yeh’re not a fan. They love it w’en ‘e spits on ‘em.” I shook my head to get the mental picture out of it.
“Okay, he just went down twenty points in my book.” Tom looked a little surprised by my comment. I hoped I didn’t offend him. I sighed with relief when his surprise turned to amusement.
“I don’t think I’ve e’er ‘eard anybody talk ‘bout Oleh like ‘at.” He chuckled a little more and I felt my eye brows scrunch together. “Most people are terrified of ‘im, but yeh, yeh’re indiff’rent teh ‘im. It’s weird, but nice.” He smiled brighter and pushed off of the van. “Yeh should ‘ang out ‘round us more often.” H tousled my hair, like an older brother would to his little sister. “Oleh could use a little bit of ‘is own treatment.” With that he waved and walked off in the direction Oliver had gone it.
I thought about it for a few seconds before I shrugged it all away, put my earphones in, and started carrying more boxes toward merch ave.
I sang along mindlessly to HIM and didn’t pay so much attention to Victoria ditching me to hand out with Lee. “The killing loneliness that tears my heart into two.” I sang as I hung a shirt up on the back board. Then two lovelysarcasm arms wrapped around my waist from behind and pulled me off the ground, and my earphones out in the process.
“Emi-leeey!” Andrew McMahon’s voice sang, loudly, in my ear. “Where were you yesterday?” He pouted and let me go so I could turn and see his face.
“Hi to you too, Andy.’ I started sarcastically and grabbed another shirt I’d set aside to hang up from the table behind him. “And in case you didn’t notice yesterday, you guys were playing at the same time as Norma Jean so I really didn’t have a choice but to stay here and watch merch as Victoria ran off to ogle at that boy that is so in love with her.” I bit my tongue before I kept going about Lee. Nobody wanted Cory to know about that, or at least not yet.
“I thought we played before them.” Andy looked so puzzled and so cute, it made me giggle a little.
“But yesterday they switched slots with A Day To Remember.” I explained and tried to hang the shirt up at the top.
“Oh, why’d they do that?” He questioned and I groaned after failing at putting the shirt up.
“Hell if I know.” I turned and glared at him. His eyes widened for a second before going back to normal.
“You must still be upset about the whole Oli thing.” My mouth dropped as he said this so casually and took the shrit from me. I know news travels quick amongst the Warped bands ( whoever said girls gossip more than guys LIED ) but this wasn’t even news. It was just a coincidence.
“I am not upset about that.” I finally spoke after he hung the shirt up and turned back to me. “But how on earth did you know about that?”
“There are no secrets on the steamy Warped Tour, my dear Emily.” I wrinkled my nose at his use of steamy. Jack was right about it giving off that sexy vibe.
“Jeez, don’t you boys have anything better to do than gossip, like maybe play sets and do interviews?” I asked sarcastically to hide my frustration. Frustration that had nothing to do with Andy, but everything to do with how I can’t seem to get away from Oliver Sykes.
“True that.” I high fived her while keeping my eyes on the bus in front of us. We usually tried to follow a bus so we didn’t accidentally get lost, although it didn’t always work.
“I think this is the turn.” Victoria turned down the radio and we both watched as the bus turned its blinker on. “I’m good.”
“I wonder who we’re following.” I stated out loud to see if Victoria knew, but she just shrugged. It took several more minutes to get pass security and park. I got out of the car, bending over to stretch my leg muscles that were killing me from the long drive.
“Nice view, love.” There were a few low whistles that accompanied the comment from behind me, then a few chuckles. I straightened up and turned around to roll my eyes at the boys that were now unloading from the bus we’d followed. Their accents were vaguely familiar.
“Like it tha’ much, eh?” Victoria came up from behind me and leaned on my shoulder. I tried keeping in my giggles as she imitated their accents quite nicely. “Too bad, she’s mine!” She wrapped her other arm around me so it was like she was hugging me around my shoulders from behind, giggling as she did so causing my laughter to finally erupt.
“Great, a couple lesbo’s.” The last boy stepped off the bus with a pair of big, dark shakes on. His voice was starting to become way too familiar.
“She was joking, jerk!” I spat back and saw Victoria pull back in shock, her mouth hanging open just a bit.
“Oi, don’t fuss o’er Oleh,” the one who’d commented on ‘the view’ spoke now, waving casually at Oliver who was stalking away without paying us any attention. “’E’s in an even worse mood today than usual.” Here he smirked just a little as he and one other boy stepped closer to us. “Got ‘imself a shiner last night.” He chuckled and tapped at the corner of his left eye.
“Won’t tell us what ‘appened, jus’ mumbles ‘bout door knobs.” The other boy shrugged and I noticed him ogling over Victoria. “I’m Lee, by the way.” He held his hand out toward Victoria and she giggled while she shook it. I rolled my eyes, already knowing what that giggle meant.
Victoria didn’t share my same views about dating on tour. She instead liked to have as much fun on tour as possible. However, this would complicate her ‘fling’ thing with Cory or vice versa.
“And I’m Tom.” The first one smiled at me.
“Emily,” I clutched my chest, “and this is Victoria, but you can call her Tori.” I smirked, knowing how much she loathed being called Tori. To my surprise her smile didn’t falter the tiniest.
“Would you mind helping me carry a few of the heavy boxes of merch?” Victoria was obviously and shamelessly flirting as she kept a hold of Lee’s hand.
“Wouldn’t mind at all, meh ladey.” He kissed her hand and she led him over to the back of our van.
“Cory is gonna be pissed when he sees this.” I shook my head and watched as she batted her eyes and he carried our boxes.
“Coray?” Tom’s smooth voice and nice accent pulled my thoughts away from them and focused on us.
“Cory is madly in love with Victoria.” I shrugged and found myself looking around, wondering where Oliver went.
“Like I said, don’t fuzz o’er ‘im.” My head snapped strangely back to Tom. It was like he could read my mind. “’E’s not so much a people person.”
“No kidding.” I added dryly and leaned against the van. Tom smiled.
“I take it yeh already met ‘im, eh?” He chuckled and leaned against the van beside me.
“He ran into me.” I corrected and Tom put his hands up in defense.
“Least ‘e didn’t spit on yeh, did ‘e?” His expression quickly turned to worried as mine changed to disgust.
“Ew, gross! He normally spits on people?” Tom laughed at my response.
“Well, I know yeh’re not a fan. They love it w’en ‘e spits on ‘em.” I shook my head to get the mental picture out of it.
“Okay, he just went down twenty points in my book.” Tom looked a little surprised by my comment. I hoped I didn’t offend him. I sighed with relief when his surprise turned to amusement.
“I don’t think I’ve e’er ‘eard anybody talk ‘bout Oleh like ‘at.” He chuckled a little more and I felt my eye brows scrunch together. “Most people are terrified of ‘im, but yeh, yeh’re indiff’rent teh ‘im. It’s weird, but nice.” He smiled brighter and pushed off of the van. “Yeh should ‘ang out ‘round us more often.” H tousled my hair, like an older brother would to his little sister. “Oleh could use a little bit of ‘is own treatment.” With that he waved and walked off in the direction Oliver had gone it.
I thought about it for a few seconds before I shrugged it all away, put my earphones in, and started carrying more boxes toward merch ave.
I sang along mindlessly to HIM and didn’t pay so much attention to Victoria ditching me to hand out with Lee. “The killing loneliness that tears my heart into two.” I sang as I hung a shirt up on the back board. Then two lovelysarcasm arms wrapped around my waist from behind and pulled me off the ground, and my earphones out in the process.
“Emi-leeey!” Andrew McMahon’s voice sang, loudly, in my ear. “Where were you yesterday?” He pouted and let me go so I could turn and see his face.
“Hi to you too, Andy.’ I started sarcastically and grabbed another shirt I’d set aside to hang up from the table behind him. “And in case you didn’t notice yesterday, you guys were playing at the same time as Norma Jean so I really didn’t have a choice but to stay here and watch merch as Victoria ran off to ogle at that boy that is so in love with her.” I bit my tongue before I kept going about Lee. Nobody wanted Cory to know about that, or at least not yet.
“I thought we played before them.” Andy looked so puzzled and so cute, it made me giggle a little.
“But yesterday they switched slots with A Day To Remember.” I explained and tried to hang the shirt up at the top.
“Oh, why’d they do that?” He questioned and I groaned after failing at putting the shirt up.
“Hell if I know.” I turned and glared at him. His eyes widened for a second before going back to normal.
“You must still be upset about the whole Oli thing.” My mouth dropped as he said this so casually and took the shrit from me. I know news travels quick amongst the Warped bands ( whoever said girls gossip more than guys LIED ) but this wasn’t even news. It was just a coincidence.
“I am not upset about that.” I finally spoke after he hung the shirt up and turned back to me. “But how on earth did you know about that?”
“There are no secrets on the steamy Warped Tour, my dear Emily.” I wrinkled my nose at his use of steamy. Jack was right about it giving off that sexy vibe.
“Jeez, don’t you boys have anything better to do than gossip, like maybe play sets and do interviews?” I asked sarcastically to hide my frustration. Frustration that had nothing to do with Andy, but everything to do with how I can’t seem to get away from Oliver Sykes.