Are You Satisfied?

Leaning against the inside of the car door, I watched the reflection of trees in the mirror blur past. I could hear the bustling and giggling of my friends sitting around me, but for some reason, nothing that they said registered in my mind.

One would think that a three hour car ride would calm the group down, but the other four in the vehicle continued their rambles of luck. Perhaps we had been lucky, being a little band that almost nobody had heard of. Or maybe we were actually good. I didn't know, but I did know that we were heading on the Warped Tour.

As the title flew threw my mind, the urge to vomit swelled in my stomach, it's acid threatening to dissolve the lining in my throat. Swallowing dryly, I kept the feeling down, reminding myself that I should have no reason to truly be nervous. After all, it was just a tour.

Just a tour.

You know; one of those things that actually takes more than two weeks out of our year?

One of those tours.

The kind that we hadn't done yet.

Slowly, I turned my head, shining green eyes to the others in the car. Silently, I admired the boy beside me, watching as he brushed away dark brown hair from his face as he laughed, flashing teeth that would make others self conscious of their own.

Although many found him far too similar to his twin, Sage, to me, Asher stood away from his brother, even when they were found on the same stage. Of course, I only held fleeting moments with him, especially after our vocalist, Evelyn, had seemed to take interest in him.

Knowing better than to intrude on my friends' relationship, I kept my mouth closed, pretending to have moved away from the young man long ago.

"Jess?" Eva's voice questioned. "Are you okay? You've been quiet the entire ride."

Even though my voice attempted to hide itself and avoid the question, I forced it out, "yeah. Just," I paused, thinking of a word to fit, "nervous."

Was that the right word? Was I nervous? Was I afraid? Or was something in the back of my mind dreading the entire trip?

I could hear the vehicle slow, pulling into a parking lot. Although we had attended a few meetings regarding the tour, never had I gotten the chance to see all of the bands together. Once again, hiding the urge to vomit, I pulled the handle and pushed open the door, stretching from the long ride.

People around us were placing things onto large buses, ranging from guitars to suitcases full of clothing. Most had driven the bus to where they stood now, leaning against the large vehicles, smoking cigarettes, or babbling to other band members, while others had met with other band mates, deciding that one would bring the bus, while the rest would bring their stuff in whatever vehicle available, to pack onto the mobile home.

I could tell that some were talking to friends that they had made on prior tours.

Were we the only ones that didn't know anyone?

Sure, we had opened for a few bands in the past, on very short tours, but none of them touched the list of Warped Tour bands for this year.

I could recognize a few bands that I had seen live in the past, or happened to be a fan of.

The vocalist of Mayday Parade, who's name slipped me at the moment, wandered about the grounds, looking around, and waving to friends of his.

Jealousy flickered through my mind; everyone did know each other. I longed to wave to another band on the tour, smile, and talk to them about what we had been up to since we had last seen each other.

But that wasn't going to happen.

Slowly, I followed my friends to our bus, dragging items from the back of Eva's car into the bus. Luckily, our instruments had already been tucked away for safe keeping, so that we wouldn't have to struggle with the bulky objects. After finishing, I watched as Eva scurried to the driver's side of her vehicle, leaning into the window to wish her sister, our driver to the location, goodbye.

I was almost too busy examining everything to notice that someone had moved beside me, waiting for me to acknowledge them. Turning, I finally had, jumping with a squeak.

"Oh my god," I huffed, placing a hand on my chest momentarily, to monitor the jump in my heartbeat.

Laughing the stranger shoved his hands into his pockets. "Scared?" he almost seemed to tease. I bit back any comments that could scare away the man, waiting to hear his reasoning for appearing.

Sure, I could only imagine that he was a member of another band, but I couldn't place which, out of the several dozen, that he had wandered away from.

"Do you guys need help with, uh..." he paused, making a few hand motions between the vehicle that Eva was still standing beside, then the bus only inches from his hand, "moving your stuff?"

Taking a glance to the others, they seemed to be finishing the transfers, which only led me to shake my head, "no. I think we're about done. Thanks, though," I could hear my voice lifting, as if in question , watching as he flipped his black hair from his face.

Glancing around with his large eyes, he seemed to eye Asher, as the drummer wandered to Eva's side, then returned his stare to me. "Oh. Well, okay," he mumbled, quietly, for a moment, before speaking up, "well, anyway, I'm David," he made a quick motion back to a bus parked nearby, but nobody stood outside of it.

After a moments pause, I realized that he was awaiting my name, to which I promptly spoke, "I'm Jessie," I smiled, taking a glance back, hearing the vehicle pulling away from it's position near our bus, and Eva shouting goodbye, for what had probably been the third or fourth time.

Still, the man was making hand motions, although they seemed useless to the conversation. I could only assume that he spoke more with his hands than words, just from the few seconds that he had stood beside me.

"I know that this is going to sound stupid," I started, giving him an odd look, "but, which band are you from?"

To add to feeling rude already, he laughed again at my question. I couldn't really tell if this was a sign that I had made a mistake in speech, or if he actually found it humorous. "Breathe Carolina," he smiled, fighting back the laughter, surely from the expression on my face.

"Oh," I trailed off, tugging nervously at a silver charm bracelet around my wrist. It was, perhaps, the only girly thing I was wearing at the moment, thinking about it. Wearing gray sweatpants, and a baggy gray hoodie was nothing flattering for me. Really, I had to backtrack to figure as to why I was wearing the clothing; I didn't even like sweatpants.

Now, I felt like more of a slob than anything.

"You're new to Warped, right?" he leaned back on the heels of his feet, rocking slightly. Seeing me nod, he almost seemed to smirk, but it was too friendly to be deemed worrisome, in my mind. "Well, if you need anything then, I'll try to help you out, okay?" The strange expression returned to a smile, "you don't need to be a stranger. We'll be on the entire tour together, so don't try to avoid me," he chuckled. "Just kidding -- I know you won't avoid me," he paused for a second, seeming to second guess himself, "right?"

Not feeling right to interrupt his babbling, I listened as he continued to think about his sentence, smiling awkwardly. I could see Sage approaching from the corner of my eye, as he hopped out of the bus, but paid little mind to it.

"Anyway," David drew the word out. "I need to go," he motioned towards his bus, "that way. So," he paused, "you should stop by and say 'hi' or something sometime. Can't wait to hear you guys on stage," he added, giving a welcoming nod to Sage before turning, almost clumsily, on his heel and wandering back to his bus.

The rhythm guitarist made his way next to me, touching my shoulder, "what was that about?" he mumbled lowly, as I looked up.

"I don't know? I think he was just being nice," I shrugged, scooting out from under his hand and toward the bus, "but I have reminded myself how much I hate sweatpants, and I want out of them now." With that, I scurried onto the bus, toward the back to find my clothing.

The entire bus seemed noticeably larger inside, as I glanced at the sofas, the sinks, and the tiny bathroom, before finally finding myself facing the beds. Six tiny bunks lined each wall, being far too many for the five-person band, but also seeming too small, as I had heard our lead guitarist, Dominic, complaining on the ride here that he could only dread waking up from a nightmare and bashing his head on the top of his bed. The benefit to the extra curtain-shielded bunks, though, had been the extra places to hide clothing, so we didn't need to place it in the back, and struggle to locate it later.

Placing my feet on the ledge of the bottom bunk, which I had claimed as my own, I lifted myself up slightly, to get a better view at the bags placed on the top bunk, but noticed that the few there weren't mine. Stepping down, I mentally slapped myself for realizing that I was eye-level with one of my bags, positioned conveniently on the middle bunk, which had gone unclaimed.

Snatching clothes out of it, I wandered further to the back, almost reaching the back lounge area, before sharply turning into the tiny bathroom, and changing into the other clothes.

"Jess, you in there?" I heard Dominic question, hesitantly. "There's an hour until people start filling the venue, you know, Jess."

"Yeah," I mumbled, pulling a green shirt over my head, "is there?" Now, I only leaned against a wall, waiting for the right time to open the door.

Hearing him shuffle around outside the door, he answered, "yeah. There are people already lining up. Do you want to see?" For a second, silence filled the air, as I could almost hear him realizing something; I could imagine his lips forming my name again, before he would even say it, as if to confirm my identity. "Jess?"

"Yeah?"

"Uh," he hesitated again. "What exactly are you doing in there?"