You're No Good At Lying

“Where’s the next stop, again?” Spencer asked, but Morgan just rolled his eyes.

“I just told you ten minutes ago,” he responded flatly, continuing to stare down at the book he was reading. The tour bus plodded along, all quiet except for the band, who were filming a tour update from the back. Spencer, Morgan and Andrew sat up on the couches in the front, each lost in their own individual worlds.

“Oh,” mumbled Spencer, looking back down at her phone. Though she hadn’t spoken to Zack since she had last seem him on the tour grounds yesterday, it was 5:45 – and he always texted her at 5:45.

5:46.

He wasn’t going to text her.

“Chicago,” Andrew piped up suddenly, his blue eyes lifting themselves off of the acoustic guitar strings he had been fixing. It wasn’t his guitar, but the way he carried it around made it seem like it may as have been. Spencer figured he would probably try to steal it from the band once the tour was over. “Our next stop’s Chicago.”

“Chicago,” she repeated quietly, opening her phone and snapping it closed. There was silence, until Spencer heard another snap – sharper than any sound her phone could ever make.

“Fuck,” Andrew cursed, examining the now broken string that he had been trying to attach to the guitar. “Morgan, pass me another string?”

“Here,” her brother muttered, handing the peroxide blonde what he needed without so much as glancing up from his book.

5:51.

“Thanks,” he replied, quickly getting back to repairing the guitar.

“How does it work?” Spencer questioned suddenly, catching Andrew off guard. “Repairing the string, I mean.”

“Oh,” he said, glancing down at the guitar. “It’s pretty easy, I suppose. It’s just kind of annoying.” Standing up, Andrew moved over to the sofa Spencer was sitting on and sat next to her. “First, you have to take out the broken string by popping it out of the pin, and then you thread the new one, in.” Spencer ran her fingers down the head of the guitar. “Then you turn the peg, and I turned it too tight before – that’s why it popped out.” Spencer nodded, and as she reached out to touch the half-fixed string, her fingers gently brushed over Andrew’s hand.

She didn’t notice it, but he sure did.

“A – And then you just tune it,” he stuttered, getting up and moving rapidly over to his old seat.

Spencer blinked. “That doesn’t seem too hard.”

“Yeah,” scoffed Andrew. “I’d like to see your pretty boyfriend tune his own guitar.”

“Andrew,” Morgan scolded through gritted teeth. “Shut up.”

“Zack could tune his own guitar!” Spencer defended, gripping the side of the sofa.

The boy shrugged. “Whatever. I’m just saying though, he’s not that good at playing. I man, sure, he’s good at bass, but I’ve seen a couple of their sets where he had to play acoustic, and it wasn’t all that great.”

“You think you could do better, than?” Spencer snapped, and Andrew shrugged yet again.

“Technically? Yeah. I think I’m a better technical player than he is. No – scratch that. I know I’m better than he is.” Spencer clenched her fists.

“Then why are you just a crew member?”

“Not for long,” Andrew replied, his bright smile stretching from ear to ear. “Morgan, did you tell her?”

“Tell her what?” He asked, closing his book and taking off his reading glasses.

“About the band, idiot!”

“What band?” Asked Spencer quietly.

Morgan swallowed. “Yeah, Andrew and I are going to start up a band when we get back home to Orlando.”

“Why?” Spencer wondered meekly. Did this mean she was going to be spending more and more time with Andrew? No – no it didn’t. She was moving to California. Whatever happened in Florida after tour, it no longer concerned her.

“Because we’re good!” Exclaimed Andrew. “And we’re going to make it big! And we’re going to be talented, not like that shirtless douche bag you call a boyfriend.”

“Shut up!” Spencer screamed, standing up from her spot. Andrew stood up as well, though the playful glint in his eyes suggested that he was enjoying the process of riling her up. “Shut up right now!”

6:07.

“Why should I?” He yelled with the same volume. “He’s been completely ignoring you lately! Has he texted you yet?” Spencer didn’t want to look down, afraid of the answer, though they both knew what it was. With a significantly lower voice, he continued, “I wouldn’t ignore you, Spencer. Never.”

“Twenty four hours of not talking to me isn’t ignoring me,” she said softly.

“Enough you guys. Seriously,” Morgan interrupted, getting up and standing in between them. “Spencer, you look exhausted. Why don’t you go to bed?” Without saying anything, Spencer grabbed her phone and made her way towards the bunks. Sitting down in her own, she craned her neck just enough so she could hear the conversation going on between Andrew and her brother.

“You’re a dumbshit, you know?” Morgan said.

“Whatever.”

“No, don’t play it off like that. If you want to get her to even like you as a friend, you have to at least be nice to her.”

“Merrick didn’t even have to try,” Andrew said with a sigh. “She just started liking him the moment she saw his perfectly sculpted body.”

“You know she didn’t like him at first. And dude, you sounded like such a tool right there.”

“I was being sarcastic.”

“I know.”

“But it’s not fair! Really, Merrick doesn’t even give her the time of day! I would be so much better for her!”

“Zack’s a great guy, Andrew, honestly.”

“He’s a douche. He hasn’t spoken to her in, like, two days.”

“He’s probably just busy.”

“He’s probably cheating on her.”

“Andrew, I fucking swear, if you even give Spencer that impression, I’ll never join any band you ever start. And I’ll never let you join any band I start, either.” Morgan paused. “Besides, if he was cheating on her, she’d find out. There’s no way he can lie and not have Spencer catch him – no one can.”

“Nothing’s impossible.”