Home Sick

With a well thumbed copy of Angela’s Ashes in her hand and her iPod’s ear buds placed in her ears, Grá sat at the front of the tour bus that her cousin Jason was currently driving. It was the only place on the bus where she was able to get a moments peace to read. She had always loved to read and this particular book always helped her when she was feeling home sick.

When she was sixteen her parent’s divorced and her mother decided to move to Huntington Beach in California to be closer to her sister, and she became instantly close with her twin cousins Matt and Jason.

Ten years later she was still with them, and part of a large, group of close friends. Five of those friends had formed a band and when they started touring and becoming successful gained help from their other friends.

Now Jason, Matt and Grá were roadies, or as Jason always insisted on calling himself, technicians. She considered herself being incredibly lucky. She got to travel, see the world, doing a job she loved and with all of her best friends.

But no matter how good they were, or how much fun she was having, there were days when she would miss home, miss her friends from Ireland.

Hearing her name being called over the sound of her music, she dog-eared her page and pulled the ear bud out of her left ear.

“What’s up Matty?” she greeted her cousin looking up at him with a smile.

“We’re stopping in a bit to get some food and for JB to take a rest from driving.” He replied. She nodded, removing her other ear bud and turning off the iPod.

“Are you okay Grá?” she nodded unconvincingly.

“I’m fine, just tired and hungry.” She replied getting up.

“Okay, I’ll believe you.” he replied following her towards the back of the bus, the tone of his voice telling her that he didn’t.

“Well hello there stranger, where’ve you been hiding?” Zack’s voice called out as she walked into the living area of the bus.

“I wasn’t hiding, I was just sat down the front reading.” She replied waving the book in her hand to illustrate her comment.

“Are you okay?” Zack asked with concern. Again Grá nodded silently with a faint smile.

“Hey, you can tell me you know.” he said with an assuring smile as the bus came to a stop.

“I know.” she replied with a genuine smile of her own. Zack had always been her favourite of all the guys. He had made her feel welcome from the very moment she’d met them all. She felt she could talk to him about anything, be herself around him.

He stood up and placed an arm gently around her shoulder. “Come on, lunch will be my treat.”

“Sweet, Vengeance is paying guys!” Johnny called out from behind them.

“In your dreams Christ! I only buy lunch for beautiful Irish girls.” He replied winking at Grá.

“Okay, so are you going to tell me why you’ve been so quiet?” Zack asked as they walked back to the bus together a little while later.

“You really do know me so well don’t you?” Zack nodded with a smug grin, his jade green eyes sparkling.

“It’s stupid really, but I’m just feeling homesick again.” she replied quietly.

“Oh sweetie, I’m sorry. But we’ll be back in Cali before you know it.” He said, wrapping a comforting arm around her shoulder and pressing his lips softly against her temple.

“It’s not Cali I’m missing, it’s Ireland.” She replied sadly.

Zack stopped and smiled down at her. “I’ll help you out with that after the show tonight.”
Grá looked back up at him with confusion. “And how are you going to do that? Fly us out to Dublin?”

Zack chuckled, “That’s for me to know and you to find out.” he said bringing his index finger up to tap the side of his nose, Grá narrowing her eyes at him.

“Zacky, don’t you know how much I hate surprises.” She whined as they continued onto the bus.

“You’ll like this one I promise.” He said “But you’ve got to hang out back here with us first.” He added taking hold of her hand and pulling her towards the sofa. She giggled as he pulled her down onto the sofa next to him.

“Thank you Zacky, I’m feeling better already.” She said.

“Not a problem sweetie, you know I don’t like seeing you down.” he placed another kiss on her temple as the others joined them at the seating area.

As always Grá stood on Zacky’s side of the stage during the show, singing along with each of the songs in turn as she waited to hear the last song of the night being played, her cue to start packing everything up.

As soon as the opening bars of A little piece of Heaven boomed through the large speakers she began gathering Zack’s guitars and Johnny’s bass’ to be packed away, some needing to be restrung before the following nights show.

The song came to an end and a smile spread across her face as she saw Zack and the others wave and applaud their audience before Zack came running off the stage towards her.

“I’m going to grab a shower quickly, I’ll meet you out side the bus in ten?” he said, placing his hands gently on her arms. She nodded with a smile before he jogged off.

“Oh Zack!” she called after him causing him to turn around. “Where are you taking me?” Again he smirked at her as he brought his finger up to tape the side of his nose.

“I hate you sometimes Baker!” she yelled after him with laughter in her voice before she turned to finish her job.

A little over ten minutes later she was stood outside the bus, her stuffed inside the pockets of her jeans as she waited for Zack.

“You know this isn’t exactly fair. Why do you get to shower and stuff?” she asked as he jogged over to her with a large smile on his face.

“Because I was all sweaty and stuff whereas you look beautiful as always.” He replied pulling her right hand gently out of her pocket to hold it within his as he began to lead them away from the bus.

“Yeah whatever, just tell me where you’re taking me already.” She replied.

“You’ll find out when you get there.” he replied.

“Do you even know where you’re taking me? Or are you just making this up as you go along and what you’re really doing is leading me as far away from the others as possible to take me down a dark alley where you can rape me and then brutally kill me?” Zack suddenly stopped and let go of her hand a look of horror on his face.

“God damn it, how the fuck did you figure out my plan? It’s taken me months to get this all planned out-“ he stopped abruptly as Grá failed to keep her laughter hidden any longer.

“That would have been a lot more convincing if there wasn’t a smile tugging at the corner of your lips the entire time.” She managed to say through her fit of giggles. “And anyway, you’re far too nice to do anything like that to me.”

“Come on, I found this place with Johnny and Gates two years ago when we were here for Saint Paddy’s day, this place is awesome.” He said as he took hold of her hand once again and began to lead her down a side street.

“Grá, this is The Mean Fiddler.” Zack said a few minutes later as they came to a stop outside a bar with large Irish and USA flags hanging above the door. “It’s an Irish bar if you didn’t guess.”

All Grá could do at that moment was smile as Zack led her into the bar. “Two pints of Guinness please.” He asked the young bartender.

“Zack, you’re the best do you know that?” she said staring at him with a large smile.

“Well, I do try.” He replied with a wink and a smile as he gave the bartender some money for the Guinness.

“Complete with a Shamrock.” She said as she took hold of the pint glass and took a sip of the dark liquid.

“Thank you Zacky, this is brilliant.” She said as they took a seat at one of the booths.

“It was a lot better on Saint Paddy’s day though, there was a live Irish band and the place was rammed and the shots and beer was green.” He replied with a small hint of disappointment in his voice.

“No, this is perfect.” She replied leaning over to place a soft kiss on his cheek.

“At least you’re smiling again anyway.” He said quietly, Grá noticing the slight blush that had appeared on his cheeks.

“Okay, so if we’re in an Irish bar we should have an Irish whiskey too.” Grá said about an hour later once they’d finally finished their first pint. They’d sat in the booth with Zack listening intently to Grá reminisce about her childhood in Ireland.

“Sounds good to me.” Zack cheered raising his glass to his lips to finish his Guinness.

“And then I’ll tell you about the time when I had to take River dance lessons.” she called on her way to the bar.

“Aw, I can just imagine you in one of those dresses, jigging about.” He called after her.

“Hey, I was good!” she warned pointing a finger at him.

“Really?” she shook her head as she carried a tray back over to them, with two pints and two large glasses of whiskey.”

“God no, I was bloody awful, you’ve seen us Berry’s dance. My teacher told my mom it was a waste of time and money sending me to lessons.” She laughed.

Those first whiskeys’s quickly multiplied as Grá and Zack both told stories of their childhood, some of which had been told many times before. They were both merry and hadn’t noticed that the bar was closing until the bartender had gone over to their booth and asked them to finish their drinks.

“Thank you for to night Zack, I’m really not homesick anymore.” Grá said as she linked arms with him as they stumbled their way back down the street toward the bus.

“You’re welcome sweetie, you know I hate seeing you sad.” He said with a smile that made his eyes sparkle.

“I mean it though, you’re my best friend, you can always make me smile and I love you.” she said stopping and looking up at him.

“I love you too sweetie.” He said staring back at her. They remained locked in each others’ gaze for a long while until suddenly their lips were pressed against each other, both of them stumbling back until Grá’s back met the wall.

Zack’s hands slipped down her body until they came to rest on her hips, her own hands slipping up his body and around to the back of his neck. Zack’s tongue traced the seams of her lips and she parted them, allowing him access to her mouth.

A groan escaped them both as they pulled away, Grá quickly taking hold of Zack’s hand and leading him silently and quickly back to the bus.

Not even noticing if any of the guys were in the living area of the bus Grá continued to lead Zack through to the bunk area, right up to the back of the bus where her bunk was.

“Wait, are you sure about this?” Zack asked in a whisper drawing her eyes back to him.

“Are you?” she asked staring back into his eyes.

“Grá, this is something I’ve wanted to do for years.” A wide smile broke across her face at the sound of his words.

“Me too.”

There were no more words as their lips reunited. They stood in the narrow corridor between the two rows of bunks kissing passionately as they began to remove each other’s clothes. With only their underwear left on, they parted and Grá climbed into her bunk with Zack joining her quickly.

His lips quickly began to trail kisses down her neck, as her hands again found the back of his neck, her fingers threading through the tufts of hair. She moaned quietly as his fingers trailed down her soft skin, catching hold of the material of her panties to pull them down her slender legs.

Lightly his fingers traced the folds of her opening, her breathing coming in short breaths as they slowly slipped into her moist entrance, curling inside her as he brought his lips back to meet hers.

Her back arched to reach his fingers pleading for him to reach further inside. Moans escaped her lips as he began to pump his fingers deeper and faster bringing her closer to the edge of ecstasy.

A small cry slipped out as she came over his fingers, her hands twisting in the bed sheets. Their eyes locked again as he slowly withdrew his fingers and Zack positioned himself between her legs. She twitched again as he gently rubbed the tip of his cock against her swollen clit before he slid gently and slowly into her.

He kept the place slow, thrusting deep inside of her, reaching her core. Her hands gripped onto his upper arms as they looked deep into each others sobering eyes.

Her hands slipped up his neck to cup his face, whispering “Fuck me.” quietly before pulling his lips to hers again in a fiery kiss. With a growl Zack quickened the pace, thrusting harder, their hips crashing together. She gripped his shoulders once again; her fingernails surly making marks, possibly drawing blood.

She closed her eyes and wrapped her legs around his waist as she felt her walls tighten around him, the grip enough to send the both of them over the edge with a loud moan.
Zack collapsed onto the small bunk next to her, his arm slipping around her waist, pulling her closer to him as he placed a kiss on her temple. They lay in silence for a long while allowing their breathing to settle back to normal.

“Shit!” Grá suddenly yelled quietly as she opened her eyes. “Are the other’s on the bus?”

Zack giggled before placing another kiss on her temple. “I don’t know and I don’t really care. It’s something we can deal with in the morning.”

She turned to him her eyes studying his face for a moment before smiling and leaning forward to kiss his plump lips.