A Handful of Moments

I looked out at the road in front of us from the driver’s seat; it was like it was never ending and someone had move the city we were heading to further away. We had been driving since we left the park today. The only time we stopped was for food, petrol and brakes.

Honestly I just wanted out of this van; it was starting to feel like it was closing in on me at times. It was worse before when Rhianna started cleaning the van while Trent was driving. We had three bags of rubbish in here! And that was just the sitting area...maybe I should have just sat in the trailer for this trip, that would have been, uh, interesting to say the least.

Letting a sigh pass my lips I looked at the bus in front of us. One of the guys really needed to put a new sign on the back; it was quite boring to look at now. Not that I can see it really well right now being past 3am and all.

“Damn, my mp3 is dead.” I heard Issac mutter from besides me.

I glanced at him quickly before looking back at the road.

“I thought you were asleep.” I whispered.
“I was for a while, but I woke up half an hour an ago.” He said just as quiet.
“Can’t go back to sleep?”
“No.” He sighed. “Too much on my mind.”

I nodded keeping my eyes on the road. Issac has been like that quite a bit since that sound check when he completely zoned out. I wonder what he was so thoughtful about and if I should ask. Far as I’m concerned Issac as well as Trent was like my brothers. They are there for me, so if Issac needs help I’m there for him.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked still whispering – I have no idea if the other two are asleep or not.
“I don’t even know where to start if I was going to talk about it.”
“Well maybe what you’re thinking of right now? That’s if you want to talk about it; talking does help.”
“Ok then, well right now I’m thinking about what I can find in here to eat.”

If I wasn’t the one driving I would have face palmed. Issac laughed quietly.

“I’m joking, I’m actually thinking about the other day and today at the park.”
“Stopping at the park was a fun idea.” I nodded.
“Sure was.”

After he said that the silence creeps in. I glanced at Issac from the corner of my eye. He was looking out the front of the bus like I am eyebrows pulled together looking either worried or confused. He was so...quiet and Issac was never that quiet unless he had a solid reason too.

“What’s wrong?” I whispered.
“I’m...confused.” He sighed. “And tired.”
“Confused about what?” I asked. “If you don’t want to tell me, just say so-“
“Well I’m confused on asking Rhianna something, I don’t know how she would react and I don’t want to fuck up our friendship or make things awkward.”
“Oh.” I breathed. “You like her?” I guessed.
“Y-yeah.” He muttered.

If I wasn’t driving and the other two weren’t in the van I would have broken out in a happy dance. But of course that wasn’t the case so I settled with a huge smile. He admitted it!

“Well want to know what I think?”
“Of course, you’re the smart one.” He chuckled.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. Noticing the bus in front of us slowing right down, I pressed down on the breaks and took the chance to look at Issac.

“Just ask her, you never know you might get surprised.” I smiled.

He blinked and bit his lip. I chuckled and looked back at the road. I heard him whisper something but I didn’t hear it well enough so I shrugged it off, maybe I wasn’t meant to hear it.

*~*~*

“The bonfire is a no go guys.” Matt sighed looking disappointed.

Pretty much everyone looked up at him shocked. There were a few complaints spoken.

“The guy that runs the venue said we couldn’t, against city rules for fires like that in public areas, even if no one is using them and there is no possible way the fire can spread.” He continued.
“Well I guess we can get some cardboard and draw a fire on it.” Trent laughed.
“Anyone got some red streamers?” Jack laughed besides me.
“I have colouring pencils.” Rian added.

I laughed and shook my head leaning back in my chair. We were all sitting in a circle between the bus and van as the sun set behind the trees. It was actually very pretty to look at.

“I have an idea!” Alex yelled suddenly making me jump startled.

He ran over towards Jack who was sitting next to me and grabbed his arm pulling Jack out of the chair. Jack gave me a confused look but let Alex pull him away.

“Don’t worry Mariza, I’m not going to rape your boyfriend and I promise to bring him back as complete as I can.” Alex chuckled.
“As complete as you can? What the hell does that mean?!” Jack yelled.

I slammed my hand over my face to stop myself from laughing as everyone else did. Jack gave me a scared look before he was out of my line of sight around the other side of the bus. I know I shouldn’t be laughing, but it was hard with the look on his face. I love my boy.

Wait...what?!

“I got the marshmallows!” Issac cheered throwing a large packet to every second person.

The packet he threw at me hit my shoulder and landed in my lap. I glared playfully at Issac and he smiled innocently. Suddenly I had an idea. I picked up the packet and leaped from my chair dumping the marshmallows where I was sitting at the same time. Issac looked at me with wide eyes and started running. I of course chased after as everyone started laughing at us.

“I’m sorry!” He whined.

I just laughed and chased him around and around the back of the chairs, like we were playing ‘duck, duck, goose’ or something. We went around about five times and just as I was a finger tip away he ran around Rhianna’s chair and quickly jumped into her lap, hiding his head in her hair as she blinked shocked.

Everyone started laughing again and I pouted. I almost had him! But the look on Rhi’s face was quite funny.

“So if I throw something at you will you chase me?” Jack asked doing everything but skipping over towards me.
“Maybe, maybe not.” I smirked.

He flashed a shit eating grin and wrapped me up in his arms. At that moment I forgot all about Issac throwing that packet at me and smiled holding Jack back. From the side I saw Alex smiling brightly holding something. Jack let go of me and we took our seats again.

Alex was standing in the middle of the circle with a mini gas camping stove. And why the hell does he have that? Shaking my head I watched as he placed it on the ground, turned the gas on and lit it up showing some small orange and blue flames.

“There you go people, our fire! Not very big but at least we can cook the marshmallows.” He smiled proudly.
“Who would have guessed, Alex use his brain.” Rain joked.

Alex glared and snatched the packet of food from him. I chuckled and picked up the packet I had opening them and Jack picked up our sticks. He asked if I wanted any but I shook my head. I didn’t want any yet. He smiled and started cooking one for himself.

Smiling I sat back in my chair and looked back up at the tree line where the sun was now just behind them with purple, pink and orange clouds filling the sky.

Times like these make touring around so much worthwhile.