Sequel: Painting Flowers ›
Status: Completed!
What You Do to Me
006.
We had been in the car for nearly an hour, driving away from the bright lights of the city, nothing visible in front of us in the darkness except for the expanse of road illuminated by the truck’s headlights. I had given up long ago any hope of getting out of Travis exactly where we were going. He staunchly refused to tell me, only smiled cheekily and continued driving, and every once in a while made a turn according to Singer’s directions. The last time I had gone on a drive with no clue where I was going was with Alex, and it pained me to even think of that day. It had started out so wonderfully...and then. I shook my head to rid myself of my thoughts. I needed to get over it, I needed to move on. Thinking about it wasn’t going to help.
Travis was blabbering on about one thing or another, I had stopped listening about twenty minutes in, instead focusing on the patterns of splattered bugs and dust on the windshield. It was nearing ten thirty; we would have to be back to busses by two at the very latest. Where the hell were we going?
“And then I stabbed a man through the heart with a trident. You’re not listening, are you Jency?”
“Huh? What?”
Travis shook his head and laughed lightly. “It’s okay, I’d probably get bored listening to me too.”
“Sorry,” I replied, guiltily. “I’m just...tired, I guess.”
“It’s cool. The guys always say I talk too much, but once I think of something it just kind of jumps out my mouth. Word vomit, you know?”
I nodded and looked out the window, squinting into the darkness.
“Have you been thinking about the song at all?” Travis asked, although it sounded like he already knew the answer. “It’s cool if you haven’t. I haven’t given it a whole lot of thought, been inspired for other songs though.”
“Oh yeah?” I asked, trying to sound as interested as possible.
“Yeppers,” Travis replied, happily. “And a few other ones are well on their way. Hopefully we’ll get some inspiration out here for this one though.”
“Are we almost there?” I asked, no longer seeing any sign of Las Vegas behind us. We were completely surrounded by desert, and I was pretty certain even those CSI guys wouldn’t find us way out here.
“Um, well, the thing is, I never really had an exact location to go to,” Travis admitted, and I could feel my annoyance bubbling up. “Singer pretty much just gave me directions to get out of the city. But here looks like a good a place as any.”
I sat there in surprise as he pulled over to the side of the road and cut the engine, but left the headlights on.
“Alright,” Travis said, clapping his hands together. “Let’s get to work.”
I watched in shock as he got out of the car and shut the door behind him, leaving me in utter silence. “Wait, what?!” I threw open the passenger door and climbed out into the darkness.
“Travis, where the hell are we? You just drove us out into the middle of the desert?”
“Yeah,” he shrugged, grabbing his guitar from the backseat and setting into the bed of the truck. I watched as he climbed into the back and sat down. “Are you getting in?”
“Why would you bring me all the way out here? Why couldn’t we have just done this in the back lounge?” I asked angrily, not moving from my spot.
Travis smiled at me. “Cause it’s so noisy on the bus. I need to work in silence, and it’s definitely silent out here,” he said, motioning around to the darkness. “Besides,” he added, when he saw my anger increasing. “You don’t get a view like this in the back of a tour bus.”
I watched as he leaned his head back and stared straight up into the night sky.
Unconsciously, I followed his gaze, and nearly had the wind knocked out of me by what I saw.
Stars, thousands of them, sparkled brilliantly against the inky black canvas of sky. It was unlike anything I had ever seen, ever dreamed of seeing. You hear people talk about the beauty of the night sky when there is no light pollution, but it’s a completely other worldly experience to see it first hand. Suddenly, everything in my life seemed so small, so insignificant. There was so much more out there beyond this miniscule world, so much more out there beyond Alex. I just had to open my eyes.
After a few moments of staring upwards, I looked back at Travis, who was watching me with a knowing smile on his face.
“My friends and I, at home, used to boat out to the island off the coast at night and look at the stars from there. It’s nothing like these though.” He looked skyward again. “Kind of puts things in perspective, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah,” I replied softly, suddenly feeling the weight of guilt that had been avoiding me since I met him. I really had been an ass hole to this kid, when he had been nothing but nice to me. Maggie was right, I should give him a chance.
I leaned back into the cab of the truck and pulled out my guitar, before walking around the back and climbing into the bed. Travis held out his hand to help me, which I took. I didn’t really need it, but I meant it as a gesture of apology. I sat down across from him and stretched my short legs out next to his long ones. The cool desert wind billowed my hair slightly, and the fresh air filled my lungs, reinvigorating me. Travis was right, being out here was inspiring.
“So,” he said, strumming a few chords on his acoustic. “I’m assuming since you have one of those crazy musical memories, I don’t need to write any of this down.”
“One of the few perks. I don’t ever need to carry a pen and paper.”
“Awesome,” he grinned, strumming again. “Well, I was thinking about what you said before – about two kids, kind of reliving their past or sharing memories – and then I also thought about what you said earlier today.”
“About me being a bitch?”
“Well, no,” Travis chuckled. “Although that would make an interesting duet – me singing at you about what a wretched bitch you were to me.”
“It wouldn’t be at all far from the truth,” I replied softly, apologetically.
“Maybe next time,” he said, with a small smile that said he forgave me. “What I was actually thinking of what that whole ‘dream’ speech you gave. About how kids have all these dreams but never reach them.”
“A song about failed dreams?” I asked, furrowing my brows. This was sounding rather depressing.
“No, a song about having dreams. About reaching for them, about achieving them.” Travis grinned and strummed a few more chords.
“You’re quite the optimist, you know that, right?” I asked, returning his infectious smile. I felt myself falling into a comfort zone, something I hadn’t felt in a long time, mostly because I hadn’t allowed myself to.
“What’s the point in being anything else?”
I leaned my head back on the cool metal of the truck, staring back up at the sky, fireflies dancing in and among the stationary stars. Closing my eyes, I let the silence overtake me. Travis, for once, kept quiet, seeming to sense that now was not the time to release his word vomit.
Melodies flowed through my mind, notes dancing and mingling with one another, looking for the best partner, the best rhythm. Dreams. Everyone had dreams. Everyone wanted to control their world, control their destiny. Dreams don’t only have when you were sleeping. Dreams happen when you play dress up with your mom’s lipstick and your dad’s ties, when you run through the park playing cowboys and Indians. They happen, as you lay awake at night, imagining your wedding day, ascending the steps of Congress, winning a Gold Medal, singing in front of thousands. Dreams are the feeling of achieving greatness, of touching others, of being happy. Dreams come true when you kiss someone you love, when your newborn baby smiles at you for the first time, when you can look up and see every single star in the galaxy.
“We’ll be a dream,” I said softly, opening my eyes.
I looked at Travis, unsure if he had heard me, but he was staring directly at me, soft smile playing on his lips. Even in the darkness, his blue-grey eyes shone as brightly as the moon above our heads.
“We’ll be a dream,” he repeated. He played momentarily with his lip ring, before turning to his guitar. The chords he played embedded themselves into my brain, and closing my eyes I swayed gently back and forth, before humming along with him. After a moment or two, I picked up my guitar as well, and strummed along.
“Miss Burke,” he said, after a few minutes, looking up at me with an elated smile. “I think we have just the made the first step on our way to one hell of a song.”
*-*-*
“And Drew didn’t even realize?”
“No, not at all! He played the entire set with this massive hole in the crotch of his jeans. And he was wearing tighty-whities. You would think he would be getting a bit of a breeze up in there or something.”
My sides hurt and there were tears rolling down my cheeks, I was laughing so incredibly hard. Travis’s stories weren’t even that funny, I just hadn’t laughed, truly laughed, in a really long time. This wasn’t a forced laugh, or a hollow one – it was real. It had all built up inside of me, just waiting for an opportunity to burst out. Travis had provided that opportunity. Here I was, in the back of an old pick up truck in West Kabumble-Fuck Nevada, laughing my ass off. This of course made Travis crack up as well, and for a good five minutes we sat there giggling, snorting, and choking back laughter.
“Oh man,” I groaned, finally able to catch my breath and relish in the amazing feeling of finally letting go of everything that had been haunting me for months.
“That story wasn’t even that funny,” Travis giggled, running a hand through his red locks.
“No, it wasn’t,” I agreed, fighting the urge to laugh again. “I needed a really good laugh though. So, thanks.”
“Anytime,” he grinned, before reaching over for his guitar. I didn’t know how long we had been out there, just talking and making random remarks. I had been worried how much it would hurt to open myself up again, but in actuality, it felt amazing. And Trav was a fantastic person to talk to. I also found him endlessly entertaining and insightful, once I actually took the time to pay attention to what he said.
I smiled, still hung over from my laughing spasm, and listened peacefully as he played the introduction we had come up with for the song. He surprised me slightly, however, when he started to sing softly. I hadn’t heard him sing live before, shockingly. I only knew what he sounded like on his first record and the mumbling I could hear from the stage during their sets. So, I listened closely, soaking in his voice and imagining it paired with my own.
“Do you remember the nights we stayed up just laughing, smiling for hours at anything?”
He looked up at me expectantly.
“Sounds perfect,” I grinned encouragingly. Travis returned my smile, but I noticed it falter slightly as his eyes flickered to something over my shoulder.
“What the fuck?” he asked, frowning.
“What?” I asked, suddenly nervous. I turned around quickly, but saw nothing in the darkness.
“Nothing...” he muttered quietly. “I just thought I saw...oh wait, there it is again!”
My eyes widened as in the distance a grouping of lights began flashing and flying above the horizon.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” he replied. “Oh, do you think it’s a UFO?” His sounded suddenly excited, like a five year old on Christmas morning. “How awesome would it be if we were abducted?!”
“Not awesome at all!” I shrieked quietly, jumping away to the far side of the pick up truck.
“Why the fuck do you want to be abducted?” I asked frantically, not taking my eyes away from the spinning lights. I was aware of Travis staring down at me, but I couldn’t taking my eyes away from the unidentified flying object, trying to determine if it was getting closer.
“Are you actually freaking out over this?” he asked incredulously.
“I saw Mars Attacks when I was six and it scared me for life,” I snapped back. “Aliens are very real, don’t you read CNN? I just don’t feel like being sucked up into their spaceship to be poked and prodded and possibly light-sabered to death.”
“Oh come on,” Travis said, rolling his eyes at me. “First of all, the Jedi would never harm an innocent being such as yourself, because as far as I know, you’re not a Sith Lord or anything. Secondly, how do you know they want to hurt us?” He sat up on his knees and stared out over the desert. “We come in peace!” He shouted into the darkness, holding up a Star-Trek hand gesture.
“Travis!” I hissed, grabbing his shoulders and pulling him back down next to me. “Are you crazy?? What if they’ve come to take over our bodies? If one enters your body you have no self control anymore!”
“That’s what she said.”
I smacked his shoulder. “Isn’t it time to go soon?” I looked up at him pleadingly. It was a stupid fear, I know. But, some people are afraid of spiders, heights, flying, or clowns. I was afraid of needles and aliens. Deal with it.
“Fine, we’ll go,” Travis said, giving me a teasing smile.
With a victorious fist pump, I jumped out of the truck bed, lay my guitar across the backseat and climbed in. Travis followed a few moments later, and starting up the vehicle, pulled back onto the road.
“Wait, why are you driving toward the lights?” I asked, eyes widening.
“That’s the way we came from,” he chuckled.
“Can’t you get home a different way?”
“You really want me to get us lost in the middle of the desert? These are the only directions I have.”
“It’s better than becoming specimens for alien scientists!”
“Where the hell did this Jency come from?” Travis asked, chuckling. “The Jency from yesterday would have told E.T. to go fuck himself and now you’re cowering under the dashboard.”
Trying to regain some of my pride, I scooted back up into the seat.
“That wasn’t my normal self,” I muttered sullenly. “Sorry if you preferred her.”
Travis scoffed, causing me to look over at him.
“Jency, I saw you smile more in the last two hours than I have in the past week. And the amount of times you bit my head off tonight was a record low of four.”
I frowned guiltily. “I’m sorry.”
“Come on. Smile, kid,” Travis laughed, giving me a playful shove on the shoulder. “I’m only kidding. Besides, seeing you nearly piss yourself at the thought of alien abduction was more than enough to make up for the amount of abuse you’ve dealt out.”
This got me to smile again, which was all Travis seemed to want.
“Oh, hey, look,” he said, as Las Vegas came back into view and the alien lights were extremely close. Like, right next to the road, close. “They’re flying model airplanes.”
“Who the fuck flies model airplanes at 1am in the middle of the desert?” I cried, staring out the window as we sped past a group of cars.
“Jen,” Travis replied, glancing at me. “It’s Vegas.”
*-*-*
We pulled back into the Warped Tour parking lot an hour later, and I scanned the row of busses for mine, stomach sinking the longer it took to spot it. Busses and trailers were all pulling out, and the lot was half as crowded as it had been when we had left.
“Those mother fuckers,” I cursed, getting out of the truck as Travis parked it alongside WTK’s bus. “They left me!” It was true, my bus was nowhere to be seen.
Just to be sure though, I whipped out my phone and sent an angry text to Maggie, who beeped back a response moments later, almost as if she had been preparing for it.
You said not to wait up for you :)
“Bitch,” I muttered under my breath.
“You can stay on our bus tonight,” Travis offered. “It’s not like we aren’t going to the same place.”
I felt annoyance at the situation bubbling up inside of me. Just because I had a fun time with Travis, didn’t mean I wanted to spend the rest of the night on his bus. It was too much, too fast. I was exhausted, and I wanted to curl up in my own bunk. Not to mention Edmund was on my bus, not on Travis’s. Sleep would be difficult to come by. Sighing in agreement, I followed Travis onto his bus, only to be greeted by the sleeping forms of Drew and Singer. QVC played quietly on the TV, lighting up the lounge with it’s luminescent light.
“Lex,” Travis said, nudging Singer gently. The curly haired boy grumbled, before jerking awake. Rubbing his eyes, he smiled at the two of us.
“Get some good writing in?” he asked softly, before stifling a yawn.
“Yes, thanks for much for lending us the car, Singer,” I whispered back, not wanting to wake Drew or anyone else who was asleep on the bus.
“Anytime,” he flashed a smile and stood up, stretching his arms over his head and giving me a quick peek of his toned stomach and faint line of hair trailing from his belly button down into his gym shorts. Hey, a girl can appreciate, right?
“Hit me up next time your in Vegas man,” he said, shaking hands with Travis, before turning and giving me a friendly hug goodbye. “Nice to meet you Jency. You guy be sure to give me some credit if this song goes platinum, yeah?”
Smiling, I waved goodbye to Singer as he exited the bus, turning back to Travis only once the door had been shut.
“Should we wake up Drew?” I asked, looking down at the snoring bassist.
“Naw, he’ll get up once the bus starts moving,” he whispered back, turning and heading back to the bunk area. “I’ll get you something to wear.” I waited patiently as Travis rummaged through a duffel bag on what I assumed what was his bed. I glanced around, listening to the soft snores from his band mates, merch guy, tour manager and whoever else occupied the curtained bunks. It smelled like guy on his bus, something I probably should have been used to from living with Holden, Quinn and Eric for so long, but Maggie and I kept a butt load of Febreeze on hand for every eventuality. WTK’s bus definitely needed a shot or two.
“Here you go,” Travis said quietly, handing me a T-shirt and pair of gym shorts. “You can get changed and stuff in the bathroom. The last bunk on the left there is open, so feel free to claim that one.”
I smiled softly and headed to the bathroom, changing quickly and splashing water onto my tired face. When I reemerged, I tossed my clothes at the end of my bunk and was about to crawl in, when I heard soft singing from the back lounge. Quietly, I pushed the door open to see Travis sitting on the couch, guitar in hand, strumming a few chords and then jotting them down on a sheet of paper.
“Working on it without me?” I accused jokingly. Travis looked up and smiled.
“No, actually, this is something different. Tonight really inspired me, I guess.”
“Can I hear it?”
A faint blush crawled onto his pale cheeks. “Uh, no actually. It’s kind of rough and not ready to be heard by such discerning ears.” He smiled playfully.
“Fine, but when it’s done, I want to hear it.” I covered my mouth as I yawned, and could hear my pillow calling me to it.
“Have a good night Jen,” Travis said. “Let me know if I keep you up.”
I nodded, and was about to shut the lounge door when I stopped myself. “Travis,” I said, causing the red head to look up again at me. We looked at each other for a moment, before I smiled gently. “Thanks. For everything.”
Any night before this and I would have expected him to react with confusion and a ‘Thanks for what?’ But, now I knew Travis, and he knew me, so it wasn’t a surprised when he returned my smile and nodded.
“Anytime, Jency.”
I shut the lounge door and silently crawled into the extra bunk, shutting the curtain and letting darkness surround me. It had been an interesting night, and not in a bad way. I was healing, slowly, but still healing. And that comforting thought helped my fall asleep in We The Kings’ bus, without Edmund, and with Travis’s whispered singing floating through the air vents. It was the best night’s rest I had had in a long time.
Travis was blabbering on about one thing or another, I had stopped listening about twenty minutes in, instead focusing on the patterns of splattered bugs and dust on the windshield. It was nearing ten thirty; we would have to be back to busses by two at the very latest. Where the hell were we going?
“And then I stabbed a man through the heart with a trident. You’re not listening, are you Jency?”
“Huh? What?”
Travis shook his head and laughed lightly. “It’s okay, I’d probably get bored listening to me too.”
“Sorry,” I replied, guiltily. “I’m just...tired, I guess.”
“It’s cool. The guys always say I talk too much, but once I think of something it just kind of jumps out my mouth. Word vomit, you know?”
I nodded and looked out the window, squinting into the darkness.
“Have you been thinking about the song at all?” Travis asked, although it sounded like he already knew the answer. “It’s cool if you haven’t. I haven’t given it a whole lot of thought, been inspired for other songs though.”
“Oh yeah?” I asked, trying to sound as interested as possible.
“Yeppers,” Travis replied, happily. “And a few other ones are well on their way. Hopefully we’ll get some inspiration out here for this one though.”
“Are we almost there?” I asked, no longer seeing any sign of Las Vegas behind us. We were completely surrounded by desert, and I was pretty certain even those CSI guys wouldn’t find us way out here.
“Um, well, the thing is, I never really had an exact location to go to,” Travis admitted, and I could feel my annoyance bubbling up. “Singer pretty much just gave me directions to get out of the city. But here looks like a good a place as any.”
I sat there in surprise as he pulled over to the side of the road and cut the engine, but left the headlights on.
“Alright,” Travis said, clapping his hands together. “Let’s get to work.”
I watched in shock as he got out of the car and shut the door behind him, leaving me in utter silence. “Wait, what?!” I threw open the passenger door and climbed out into the darkness.
“Travis, where the hell are we? You just drove us out into the middle of the desert?”
“Yeah,” he shrugged, grabbing his guitar from the backseat and setting into the bed of the truck. I watched as he climbed into the back and sat down. “Are you getting in?”
“Why would you bring me all the way out here? Why couldn’t we have just done this in the back lounge?” I asked angrily, not moving from my spot.
Travis smiled at me. “Cause it’s so noisy on the bus. I need to work in silence, and it’s definitely silent out here,” he said, motioning around to the darkness. “Besides,” he added, when he saw my anger increasing. “You don’t get a view like this in the back of a tour bus.”
I watched as he leaned his head back and stared straight up into the night sky.
Unconsciously, I followed his gaze, and nearly had the wind knocked out of me by what I saw.
Stars, thousands of them, sparkled brilliantly against the inky black canvas of sky. It was unlike anything I had ever seen, ever dreamed of seeing. You hear people talk about the beauty of the night sky when there is no light pollution, but it’s a completely other worldly experience to see it first hand. Suddenly, everything in my life seemed so small, so insignificant. There was so much more out there beyond this miniscule world, so much more out there beyond Alex. I just had to open my eyes.
After a few moments of staring upwards, I looked back at Travis, who was watching me with a knowing smile on his face.
“My friends and I, at home, used to boat out to the island off the coast at night and look at the stars from there. It’s nothing like these though.” He looked skyward again. “Kind of puts things in perspective, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah,” I replied softly, suddenly feeling the weight of guilt that had been avoiding me since I met him. I really had been an ass hole to this kid, when he had been nothing but nice to me. Maggie was right, I should give him a chance.
I leaned back into the cab of the truck and pulled out my guitar, before walking around the back and climbing into the bed. Travis held out his hand to help me, which I took. I didn’t really need it, but I meant it as a gesture of apology. I sat down across from him and stretched my short legs out next to his long ones. The cool desert wind billowed my hair slightly, and the fresh air filled my lungs, reinvigorating me. Travis was right, being out here was inspiring.
“So,” he said, strumming a few chords on his acoustic. “I’m assuming since you have one of those crazy musical memories, I don’t need to write any of this down.”
“One of the few perks. I don’t ever need to carry a pen and paper.”
“Awesome,” he grinned, strumming again. “Well, I was thinking about what you said before – about two kids, kind of reliving their past or sharing memories – and then I also thought about what you said earlier today.”
“About me being a bitch?”
“Well, no,” Travis chuckled. “Although that would make an interesting duet – me singing at you about what a wretched bitch you were to me.”
“It wouldn’t be at all far from the truth,” I replied softly, apologetically.
“Maybe next time,” he said, with a small smile that said he forgave me. “What I was actually thinking of what that whole ‘dream’ speech you gave. About how kids have all these dreams but never reach them.”
“A song about failed dreams?” I asked, furrowing my brows. This was sounding rather depressing.
“No, a song about having dreams. About reaching for them, about achieving them.” Travis grinned and strummed a few more chords.
“You’re quite the optimist, you know that, right?” I asked, returning his infectious smile. I felt myself falling into a comfort zone, something I hadn’t felt in a long time, mostly because I hadn’t allowed myself to.
“What’s the point in being anything else?”
I leaned my head back on the cool metal of the truck, staring back up at the sky, fireflies dancing in and among the stationary stars. Closing my eyes, I let the silence overtake me. Travis, for once, kept quiet, seeming to sense that now was not the time to release his word vomit.
Melodies flowed through my mind, notes dancing and mingling with one another, looking for the best partner, the best rhythm. Dreams. Everyone had dreams. Everyone wanted to control their world, control their destiny. Dreams don’t only have when you were sleeping. Dreams happen when you play dress up with your mom’s lipstick and your dad’s ties, when you run through the park playing cowboys and Indians. They happen, as you lay awake at night, imagining your wedding day, ascending the steps of Congress, winning a Gold Medal, singing in front of thousands. Dreams are the feeling of achieving greatness, of touching others, of being happy. Dreams come true when you kiss someone you love, when your newborn baby smiles at you for the first time, when you can look up and see every single star in the galaxy.
“We’ll be a dream,” I said softly, opening my eyes.
I looked at Travis, unsure if he had heard me, but he was staring directly at me, soft smile playing on his lips. Even in the darkness, his blue-grey eyes shone as brightly as the moon above our heads.
“We’ll be a dream,” he repeated. He played momentarily with his lip ring, before turning to his guitar. The chords he played embedded themselves into my brain, and closing my eyes I swayed gently back and forth, before humming along with him. After a moment or two, I picked up my guitar as well, and strummed along.
“Miss Burke,” he said, after a few minutes, looking up at me with an elated smile. “I think we have just the made the first step on our way to one hell of a song.”
*-*-*
“And Drew didn’t even realize?”
“No, not at all! He played the entire set with this massive hole in the crotch of his jeans. And he was wearing tighty-whities. You would think he would be getting a bit of a breeze up in there or something.”
My sides hurt and there were tears rolling down my cheeks, I was laughing so incredibly hard. Travis’s stories weren’t even that funny, I just hadn’t laughed, truly laughed, in a really long time. This wasn’t a forced laugh, or a hollow one – it was real. It had all built up inside of me, just waiting for an opportunity to burst out. Travis had provided that opportunity. Here I was, in the back of an old pick up truck in West Kabumble-Fuck Nevada, laughing my ass off. This of course made Travis crack up as well, and for a good five minutes we sat there giggling, snorting, and choking back laughter.
“Oh man,” I groaned, finally able to catch my breath and relish in the amazing feeling of finally letting go of everything that had been haunting me for months.
“That story wasn’t even that funny,” Travis giggled, running a hand through his red locks.
“No, it wasn’t,” I agreed, fighting the urge to laugh again. “I needed a really good laugh though. So, thanks.”
“Anytime,” he grinned, before reaching over for his guitar. I didn’t know how long we had been out there, just talking and making random remarks. I had been worried how much it would hurt to open myself up again, but in actuality, it felt amazing. And Trav was a fantastic person to talk to. I also found him endlessly entertaining and insightful, once I actually took the time to pay attention to what he said.
I smiled, still hung over from my laughing spasm, and listened peacefully as he played the introduction we had come up with for the song. He surprised me slightly, however, when he started to sing softly. I hadn’t heard him sing live before, shockingly. I only knew what he sounded like on his first record and the mumbling I could hear from the stage during their sets. So, I listened closely, soaking in his voice and imagining it paired with my own.
“Do you remember the nights we stayed up just laughing, smiling for hours at anything?”
He looked up at me expectantly.
“Sounds perfect,” I grinned encouragingly. Travis returned my smile, but I noticed it falter slightly as his eyes flickered to something over my shoulder.
“What the fuck?” he asked, frowning.
“What?” I asked, suddenly nervous. I turned around quickly, but saw nothing in the darkness.
“Nothing...” he muttered quietly. “I just thought I saw...oh wait, there it is again!”
My eyes widened as in the distance a grouping of lights began flashing and flying above the horizon.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” he replied. “Oh, do you think it’s a UFO?” His sounded suddenly excited, like a five year old on Christmas morning. “How awesome would it be if we were abducted?!”
“Not awesome at all!” I shrieked quietly, jumping away to the far side of the pick up truck.
“Why the fuck do you want to be abducted?” I asked frantically, not taking my eyes away from the spinning lights. I was aware of Travis staring down at me, but I couldn’t taking my eyes away from the unidentified flying object, trying to determine if it was getting closer.
“Are you actually freaking out over this?” he asked incredulously.
“I saw Mars Attacks when I was six and it scared me for life,” I snapped back. “Aliens are very real, don’t you read CNN? I just don’t feel like being sucked up into their spaceship to be poked and prodded and possibly light-sabered to death.”
“Oh come on,” Travis said, rolling his eyes at me. “First of all, the Jedi would never harm an innocent being such as yourself, because as far as I know, you’re not a Sith Lord or anything. Secondly, how do you know they want to hurt us?” He sat up on his knees and stared out over the desert. “We come in peace!” He shouted into the darkness, holding up a Star-Trek hand gesture.
“Travis!” I hissed, grabbing his shoulders and pulling him back down next to me. “Are you crazy?? What if they’ve come to take over our bodies? If one enters your body you have no self control anymore!”
“That’s what she said.”
I smacked his shoulder. “Isn’t it time to go soon?” I looked up at him pleadingly. It was a stupid fear, I know. But, some people are afraid of spiders, heights, flying, or clowns. I was afraid of needles and aliens. Deal with it.
“Fine, we’ll go,” Travis said, giving me a teasing smile.
With a victorious fist pump, I jumped out of the truck bed, lay my guitar across the backseat and climbed in. Travis followed a few moments later, and starting up the vehicle, pulled back onto the road.
“Wait, why are you driving toward the lights?” I asked, eyes widening.
“That’s the way we came from,” he chuckled.
“Can’t you get home a different way?”
“You really want me to get us lost in the middle of the desert? These are the only directions I have.”
“It’s better than becoming specimens for alien scientists!”
“Where the hell did this Jency come from?” Travis asked, chuckling. “The Jency from yesterday would have told E.T. to go fuck himself and now you’re cowering under the dashboard.”
Trying to regain some of my pride, I scooted back up into the seat.
“That wasn’t my normal self,” I muttered sullenly. “Sorry if you preferred her.”
Travis scoffed, causing me to look over at him.
“Jency, I saw you smile more in the last two hours than I have in the past week. And the amount of times you bit my head off tonight was a record low of four.”
I frowned guiltily. “I’m sorry.”
“Come on. Smile, kid,” Travis laughed, giving me a playful shove on the shoulder. “I’m only kidding. Besides, seeing you nearly piss yourself at the thought of alien abduction was more than enough to make up for the amount of abuse you’ve dealt out.”
This got me to smile again, which was all Travis seemed to want.
“Oh, hey, look,” he said, as Las Vegas came back into view and the alien lights were extremely close. Like, right next to the road, close. “They’re flying model airplanes.”
“Who the fuck flies model airplanes at 1am in the middle of the desert?” I cried, staring out the window as we sped past a group of cars.
“Jen,” Travis replied, glancing at me. “It’s Vegas.”
*-*-*
We pulled back into the Warped Tour parking lot an hour later, and I scanned the row of busses for mine, stomach sinking the longer it took to spot it. Busses and trailers were all pulling out, and the lot was half as crowded as it had been when we had left.
“Those mother fuckers,” I cursed, getting out of the truck as Travis parked it alongside WTK’s bus. “They left me!” It was true, my bus was nowhere to be seen.
Just to be sure though, I whipped out my phone and sent an angry text to Maggie, who beeped back a response moments later, almost as if she had been preparing for it.
You said not to wait up for you :)
“Bitch,” I muttered under my breath.
“You can stay on our bus tonight,” Travis offered. “It’s not like we aren’t going to the same place.”
I felt annoyance at the situation bubbling up inside of me. Just because I had a fun time with Travis, didn’t mean I wanted to spend the rest of the night on his bus. It was too much, too fast. I was exhausted, and I wanted to curl up in my own bunk. Not to mention Edmund was on my bus, not on Travis’s. Sleep would be difficult to come by. Sighing in agreement, I followed Travis onto his bus, only to be greeted by the sleeping forms of Drew and Singer. QVC played quietly on the TV, lighting up the lounge with it’s luminescent light.
“Lex,” Travis said, nudging Singer gently. The curly haired boy grumbled, before jerking awake. Rubbing his eyes, he smiled at the two of us.
“Get some good writing in?” he asked softly, before stifling a yawn.
“Yes, thanks for much for lending us the car, Singer,” I whispered back, not wanting to wake Drew or anyone else who was asleep on the bus.
“Anytime,” he flashed a smile and stood up, stretching his arms over his head and giving me a quick peek of his toned stomach and faint line of hair trailing from his belly button down into his gym shorts. Hey, a girl can appreciate, right?
“Hit me up next time your in Vegas man,” he said, shaking hands with Travis, before turning and giving me a friendly hug goodbye. “Nice to meet you Jency. You guy be sure to give me some credit if this song goes platinum, yeah?”
Smiling, I waved goodbye to Singer as he exited the bus, turning back to Travis only once the door had been shut.
“Should we wake up Drew?” I asked, looking down at the snoring bassist.
“Naw, he’ll get up once the bus starts moving,” he whispered back, turning and heading back to the bunk area. “I’ll get you something to wear.” I waited patiently as Travis rummaged through a duffel bag on what I assumed what was his bed. I glanced around, listening to the soft snores from his band mates, merch guy, tour manager and whoever else occupied the curtained bunks. It smelled like guy on his bus, something I probably should have been used to from living with Holden, Quinn and Eric for so long, but Maggie and I kept a butt load of Febreeze on hand for every eventuality. WTK’s bus definitely needed a shot or two.
“Here you go,” Travis said quietly, handing me a T-shirt and pair of gym shorts. “You can get changed and stuff in the bathroom. The last bunk on the left there is open, so feel free to claim that one.”
I smiled softly and headed to the bathroom, changing quickly and splashing water onto my tired face. When I reemerged, I tossed my clothes at the end of my bunk and was about to crawl in, when I heard soft singing from the back lounge. Quietly, I pushed the door open to see Travis sitting on the couch, guitar in hand, strumming a few chords and then jotting them down on a sheet of paper.
“Working on it without me?” I accused jokingly. Travis looked up and smiled.
“No, actually, this is something different. Tonight really inspired me, I guess.”
“Can I hear it?”
A faint blush crawled onto his pale cheeks. “Uh, no actually. It’s kind of rough and not ready to be heard by such discerning ears.” He smiled playfully.
“Fine, but when it’s done, I want to hear it.” I covered my mouth as I yawned, and could hear my pillow calling me to it.
“Have a good night Jen,” Travis said. “Let me know if I keep you up.”
I nodded, and was about to shut the lounge door when I stopped myself. “Travis,” I said, causing the red head to look up again at me. We looked at each other for a moment, before I smiled gently. “Thanks. For everything.”
Any night before this and I would have expected him to react with confusion and a ‘Thanks for what?’ But, now I knew Travis, and he knew me, so it wasn’t a surprised when he returned my smile and nodded.
“Anytime, Jency.”
I shut the lounge door and silently crawled into the extra bunk, shutting the curtain and letting darkness surround me. It had been an interesting night, and not in a bad way. I was healing, slowly, but still healing. And that comforting thought helped my fall asleep in We The Kings’ bus, without Edmund, and with Travis’s whispered singing floating through the air vents. It was the best night’s rest I had had in a long time.
♠ ♠ ♠
I really enjoyed writing this chapter, so I hoped you enjoyed reading it! Hey, you better have enjoyed it since I wrote it instead of studying for my Shakespeare exam tomorrow morning, lol. But really, who needs Hamlet and Ophelia when you have Travis and Jency to play with?Comments? Thoughts? Criticisms? Suggestions? Let me know!
Love you all!!
Oh, and I almost forgot. I've been getting a few comments here and there so I'll just remind you again - Alex Gaskarth will play a very small role in the story. This isn't about him, it's about Jency. So, I apologize to those of you who were hoping for more Jency/Alex lovin'. Hopefully, you'll still want to read the story though. :-)
xxKelsey