Summer Is When Everything Could Happen

“Jack, why did you hit him!?”, I asked him after we got into the ATL’s back lounge of their bus. Jack sat down and just looked down to his hands. I crossed my arms and shifted my weight to the other leg. “Well?”

“I just don’t like him, flirting with you when you don’t want him to be around.”

“Well, that doesn’t give you any right to hit him in the eye.”, I exclaimed. His face got paler and the guilt in his eyes appeared clearer than before. I sighed and sat next to him, patting his black hair. “But, I have to say thanks to my best friend.”

He turned his head, facing me with wide grin. “So, you’re not mad?”

“Mad? Why am I mad?”, I raised a brow.

Jack shrugged his shoulders. “Probably because I hit Stephen.”

I burst into laughter as I wrapped my arms around his waist, hugging his side. “Jacky, I’m not mad at you. You’re my best friend!”

“Well, that means I can sleep well tonight.”, he wrapped his arms around me. When we were busy hugging, Dana and Zack suddenly walked into the lounge, giving us a look.

“Okay, is it me or you guys are…hugging?”, Dana asked, tilting her head to the side.

“Don’t ruin this moment or I’ll break your head off.”, I muttered as Jack and I continued hugging.

“You can hug together all you want in the next venue, cause’ Ally, we need to go now. We don’t have a driver like someone do.”, her eyes peeked to her boyfriend, who was grinning down to her.

Jack released his arms off of me and pouted. “You’re a party pooper, Dee. I hate your girlfriend, Merrick.”

“If you don’t let her go, Ally will swerve in a ditch with my girlfriend, Jack.”, Zack replied with a roll of his eyes. I laughed and stood up, giving Jack a fist bump before walking off their bus.

It was cold outside and we haven’t changed from our bikini tops. I hooked my arm with Dana’s as we said goodbyes to the bands who were still hanging outside. I apologized to Brian, Josh, John, and Jess about Jack and Stephen.

They all forgave Jack, and kind of agreed with me that Stephen needed a lesson. After all of that, Dana and I went to our van, greeted by Max and Vance, our tour manager.

Max handed both of us our sweatshirts and Dana moved to the passenger’s seat as Lance got into the driver’s. After Max double checked on our trailer and got back into the van, Lance started the van and drove out from the arena.

I turned on the light and moved to the back row, wanting some private time. Dana and Lance were singing 99 Bottles Of Beer, joined by Max and Vance. I laughed at them and an hour passed, the only singing voices were Dana’s and Lance’s.

“Where are we?”, I asked them as I moved to the front row, carefully placed Max’s head on my lap as he sleeps.

Dana checked the GPS and yawned. “Near Bakersfield. We should make it to San Francisco in five hours, six max.”

“Okay, can we make a stop at a convenient store? And Lance, the van almost runs out of gas.”

Lance took a peek at the meter and cursed quietly. “Fuck. We need gas fast.”

After another half an hour drive, we pulled up at some random gas station. When Lance parked near the tank, Dana and I jumped out and went to the 24 hours convenient store.

I took a plastic basket as Dana wandered through the snack aisle. I walked into the bath supplies and took a bottle of shampoo, a bar of soap, and a tube of toothpaste. We bought the guys some snacks and couple cans of beer. After that, we went to the cashier and paid for it all.

Lance was leaning against the van and texting with his girlfriend back in Arizona. We dumped the groceries into the van, before getting back into it. Another length of the drive was filled with our little conversation, until Dana fell asleep.

“I hope you won’t fall asleep, Al.”, Lance chuckled at the view of sleeping Dana.

“No, I won’t. Too much stuff going through my head.”

“Stuff? What stuff? About Stephen?”

“Yeah, that stuff.”

He sighed as he passed a car that was moving too slow on our way. “Ally, he’s just a jerk who wants to get into your pants. He doesn’t worth your time or your mind, so stop thinking about him.”

“I want to, Lance, but I don’t know! He always slipped into my mind.”

“Try. Just think about…your favorite song, or your favorite person, or even your favorite random moment. It’ll help.”

I nodded and thanked him.
************
The sun shined through the window, hitting my closed eyelids. I opened my eyes slowly and again, greeted by the blinding light. I sat up and the van’s door was already opened.

“Wakey wakey!”, Jack suddenly poked his head in and grinned widely. “Dana said I needed to wake you up.”

“Where is she, anyway?”, I yawned and rubbed my eyes. Jack rolled his eyes before answering ‘the usual’. I nodded and carefully slipped out from the van and stretched my body. “What time is it?”

“Almost 9. Your band mates are at the caters’ tent, getting some breakfast.”

“I think I want a breakfast too, before the set. Can I change first?”

Jack nodded and sat inside the van to wait. I took out some random clothes and went to the trailer. Max was there and I told him I wanted to change. He walked out quickly and closed the railing for me. When I was done, he let me out.

“Jack, you ready?”, I covered my eyes with my Ray-Ban and poked my head into the van. Jack quickly grabbed my hand and pulled me to the caters’ tent. The smell of pancakes, waffles, sausages, bacons, eggs and coffee filled the tent.

I could see Dana, Pat, Lance, Zack, Alex, and Rian, talking while eating breakfast a table. My eyes wandered around again and found The Summer Set around their own table. Stephen was concentrating at his breakfast, but when he noticed I was in, his eyes lit up and smirked.

Jack noticed him too and sent some death glares at him. I smiled up to Jack when he did that. “So, when’s your set?”, I asked him, distracting him from glaring at Stephen.

“2.30, still a long time. How about you?”

“4. I need something to keep me entertain.”, I replied as I put a pancake and two sausages into my plate.

“We can play football!”, Jack exclaimed cheerfully, getting some stares from the others.
************
After breakfast, all of us gathered at a grassy space near the buses. We decided it’s a boys Vs. girls game. Thankfully, Sierra and Cassadee wanted join, along with Sisca, The Maine’s merch girl, and Jessica, Breathe Carolina’s. Because there were only four girls, we asked some fans who already waited outside the gate to play with us.

The girls whom we picked were surprised and their eyes almost bulged out in excitement when they saw the guys were shirtless.

The boys’ team consisted of all of ATL, Pat and Lance, Martin and Paul from BLG, John Ohh, and the Gomez brothers. I could see Jack’s uncomfortable expression when Stephen told them he wanted to join.

When I stepped front for the coin toss. Bryan from BLG did it for me, and the boys sent out Stephen to do it. I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes at him. I picked heads, and I got the first. “You’re going down.”, I hissed.

“Well, I love it if you’re on top of me.”, he smirked before walking back.

I rolled my eyes and did the kick off. Dana quickly caught it and ran to our end zone. She ran so fast even none of the guys could stop her. When she was already there, she threw the ball down and threw her arms up to the air. “Touchdown!”, she screamed.

The game continued until it was neck to neck between us. We only needed one more touchdown to win. When the ball was already in the air, I ran and kept my eyes glued to the ball.

When the ball was almost fell perfectly into my arms, I ran onto someone, making both of us fell onto the ground. I groaned and realized the one who was on top of me was Stephen.

“Seriously?! Out all of the guys, why was it have to be you!?”, I grunted and pushed him off before sitting up.

“Ally? You okay?”, John asked as he lend in his hand. I took it and he pulled me up. “Did Stephen do something?”

“Well, she was the one who do something. She turned me on.”
I took the ball out of Martin’s hand and threw it onto his face, knocking him out.