Dear Anna, Count Me In

The tour bus drove off and Jack kept his face pressed against the window until the girls’ house was long out of sight. Then he slumped over in surrender. Rian came over to try and comfort him, but Jack pushed him away and went to sulk in his bunk.

“Oh he’s going to be delightful to be with on a bus for the next four months,” Rian said sarcastically to himself as he went back to the lounge area where the rest of the band (minus Jack of course) was sitting. He could still remember the last time Jack had been involved with a girl, and his behavior when the girl had left him. Jack + love = a great thing, but when he was deprived of it in any way he was not a fun person to be around.

Alex was slightly more optimistic than Jack. He had discovered that he had a crush on Amber and had kissed her before they left, but in the hour or so that they had been driving he had convinced himself that it was no big deal. The entire time they had been there he had just wanted to leave and get away from the girls. After all, you have to be psycho to actually kidnap a band. Therefore, he concluded that his feelings for Amber were a fluke. Perhaps some sort of survival mechanism.

Soon after leaving the tour bus had made a stop to let the band members of other band members off and onto their own buses, which meant All Time Low was alone again. They sat around in silence, still trying to process the events that had occurred recently. It all seemed kind of like a dream now that they were free.

Eventually the bus came to a stop at a restaurant for them to eat lunch. From there they would go to the airport and fly to the next stop on their tour. The buses would catch up within a few days, but they had already missed too many shows to waste time driving to the next location.

The band sat around talking and joking like they usually do throughout lunch and as they walked through the airport, but Jack remained silent and stayed off by himself. The band occasionally glanced at him, but no one attempted to talk to him because no one wanted to get stabbed or shot or anything like that. Jack was usually a fun person, but when he was in a bad mood it was wise not to mess with him.

The band even drew straws to see who had to sit by him on the plane. Unfortunately for Alex, he won. As they got into their seats Jack stared emptily out the window and Alex tried to make himself comfortable. Then Jack turned to Alex and spoke for the first time since leaving the girls this morning.

“Don’t you miss Amber?” he asked.

The question took Alex by surprise and he simply stared back at Jack. “What do you mean?” he finally replied.

“I saw you kiss her and I saw that you liked her. Why aren’t you feeling the same pain that I am feeling?”

Alex shook his head. He hadn’t thought about Amber or the kiss since they had left and he had told himself it was no big deal. That’s what he told Jack now.

After Alex explained his methods of justifying it all, Jack just nodded and withdrew into silence again. Alex wanted to say something more to Jack, but he had no idea what to say, so after a minute he leaned his head back and closed his eyes. Soon he was asleep.

Amber was sitting on a swing in the park. Her hair was blowing and she was gently swinging back and forth. She had a peaceful smile on her face and was listening to music through the earbuds in her ears. She turned around and her smile grew bigger and full of excitement when she saw the All Time Low tour bus parked a couple hundred feet away and Alex walking towards her. She jumped up and ran to him, where he pulled her into his arms and kissed her.

Someone tapped on Alex’s shoulder. “Excuse me, sir” a woman’s voice said. Alex opened his eyes and saw a flight attendant. He looked around and realized he was on the airplane and that he had just been dreaming about Amber. That meant he wasn’t over her like he thought. “Aw fuck.” He muttered to himself.