Are You Satisfied?

Laughing, I made my way out of the bathroom, wearing a simple pair of jeans and a self-promoting, green shirt. "I was changing. What did you think I was doing?"

The man gave a smile, mumbling an, "oh, nothing," and retreated from the hallway, to give me more room to step out.

Making our way out of the bus, I glanced around. On the other side of a crude barricade, I could see the line of mumbling fans. Some glanced toward the movement from our bus,but few seemed to notice.

"Cool, isn't it?" he smiled, shielding the sun from his eyes with a hand. With a quick pause between the sentences, he began to walk away, adding, "oh, yeah. I don't know if you heard, but we're playing at twelve-fifteen."

"Well," I thought about it. No, I actually hadn't known when we were playing. That was probably a bad thing, "I guess, now, I do know," I smiled back at him, before slipping from the van. Over my shoulder, I could hear him questioning where I was going, to which I only shrugged, tilting my head enough that I could glimpse him from the corner of my eye. "I want to see the other bands."

From a safe side of the barricades, I watched fans of various genres pour into the venue, noisily. It seemed as though none of them took notice to me, too busy trying to figure out the schedule of the day, rather than what was actually surrounding them. After examining the groups of people for a moment, I began wandering again, looking about curiously.

I allowed my mind to wander, debating on the possible locations of all of my bandmates. Was Dom still at the bus? Where had Eva run off to? Sage? Asher?

...Asher was probably with Eva.

Fingers lifted up to my face, brushing against my forehead, before I loosely tangled them into my hair. Why did she have to take him of all people? The selfish part of me said that it was intentional, but a more logical side told me that there was no way that she would have intentionally moved in on the guy that I had interest in.

"Miss?"

Snapping from my personal daze, my fingers released their hold, and I jerked to see the source of the voice.

"Are you lost?" a concerned smile traced the lips of the man in front of me. "Who are you with? Maybe I can help you," his voice trailed off, as the man made his way toward me.

Shaking my head, I leaned away from the person. Still in my mind, it took a moment to fully register what was happening, "oh, no," I raised my hands, palms out, as if to deny the stranger something.

Was he a stranger? Did I know him? I had to think for a moment, as he stopped about a foot away from me.

"Are you sure? You don't really look that great," he shifted, flicking black hair from his face. "Do you need to sit or," he paused, to think, "something?"

Still, I shook my head, "no, I don't need any somethings," I joked, lightly. "I was just looking around," a small pause filled my mind, as I took in his appearance. He really did look familiar. "Did I interrupt something you were doing?"

Something seemed to click in the man's head, as he stared at me for a moment. His eyes scanned over me, as though I were a potentially faulty product, but he remained quiet for a moment,

Wait. I did know who he was. I had seen his band live only about a year ago, hadn't I?

"You're supposed to be back here, aren't you?" he eased up a bit, seeing me nod. Did I really look like I was just a lost fan? I supposed, being rather unknown, that was no surprise. A bit of me wanted to take it as an insult, but I knew better. How was he to really know otherwise? Other than the tag attached to my belt loop that should have made it clear, at least.

"And, you're," I paused. Name. I needed that name. "You're," I inhaled, almost hissing, through my teeth as I tried to think. Drawing a blank, I resorted to what I thought his band's name was. "From Alesana, right?"

Had I guessed wrong? An almost sour look overcame the man's face. Eek. Perhaps, they weren't a big fan of that band.

"Yeah?"

There seemed to be no harmful tone to his voice. The expression still made no sense, and I was right. Nervously, I scratched at my wrist, uttering only an, "uh," and taking a step back. I didn't really know what to say to the man. Actually, I still didn't know his name, even.

With the silence, the other let out a sigh, and placed an almost fake smile on his face. "I'm Shawn," he finally said, putting out a hand. "Sorry that I mistook you for a fangirl. You didn't really look like you belonged behind the barricades."

A small chuckle slipped past my lips, taking his hand, and lightly shaking it. Introductions were always kind of awkward, to me. Maybe it was weird that I felt that way, but it was always something that had been strange for me.

"It's fine. If I didn't know better, I'd probably mistake myself for one, too," I smiled, looking down. Oh, I did look like one, didn't I? "I'm Jessie."

Then again, what differentiated a band member from a fangirl? Really, couldn't someone be both? At least I wasn't a fangirl for my own band. Although, really, my shirt implied otherwise. I just didn't want to get any of my more preferred shirts dirty on the first day of the tour.

Taking his hand away from mine, he made a motion behind him, to a large, gray bus. The door to it was propped open, and a larger man was sitting on the ledge, smoking a cigarette. Inside, a faint light, from what I could only assume was a television, flickered. "Do you want to come back to the bus and meet the guys? I could get you a bottle of water, or something," Shawn offered, leaning a little, as if to turn toward the bus.

"Uh," I paused, as the man in the doorway gave me an almost creepy smile, and waved. The smile almost looked as if he intended to devour me if I got close enough. But, at the same time, he didn't really seem like he was going to hurt me. Really, he was probably just a giant ball of fluff. Or alcohol. Only time would tell, I guessed. "Sure, I guess."

"Great," the black haired man grinned, moving forward a step, only to wait for me to begin walking, and slipped behind me, to make me lead the way to his bus. Surely, it was just to be nice, since turning his back to me wasn't really the most friendly gesture, but... it was still a little out of place for me.

The man waiting at the door only seemed to gain a larger smile, the closer we got, but the other seemed to ignore it, calling out to his friends, that I could only assume had been watching the flickering box inside the van.

Suspense fluttered over my nerves, as I backed up, to allow the large, long haired man in front of me to get closer, only for me to bump into Shawn in the process.

"Oof-oops," Shawn laughed, softly, placing hands on my shoulders to steady himself as he stepped back. "Didn't expect that."

"Sorry," I squeaked out, face paling at the accident. Trapped between two guys, one seeming much larger and more intimidating, and running into his friend? It felt like I was stepping on cracked ice. To add, Shawn's hands on my shoulders only brought further discomfort. It was almost as if being forced into the situation, although I intentionally had placed myself there.

Finally, his hands dropped to his sides, and away from me. With a warm voice, the vocalist of Alesana spoke, clearly directed toward me and the man in front of them, as none of the others had removed themselves from the vehicle.

"Dennis, this is Jessie! I just met her," he paused, as I felt the air moving behind me from a hand motion made, "just over there. About two minutes ago." A short pause filled the air, long enough to feel like minutes, though there hadn't actually been enough time for anyone to speak before Shawn continued, "and Jessie, this is Dennis. He's not only our screamer, but the person who hurts himself the most on stage," the man announced, teasingly.

Perhaps, it was most fitting, that the only thing Dennis could say at the moment was, "feeling funny today, Shawn?"