Never Regret

“Yo yo yo! Reece is in the hiz-house!”

I groaned at the booming voice of my drummer, picked up the nearest object and threw it at him. It is far too early for his hyperness.

“Shit, Mack, why’d you throw an ashtray!” Reece whined.

Glass. My bad. I sat upright and sent the tall, tanned, dark-haired Mohicaned boy an apologetic glance. His green eyes just sparkled with excitement. Guess it didn’t hurt that much then!

“Why do you have to be so fucking loud?” JC, my best friend, grumbled as he lifted his head from my lap.

JC is also the lead guitarist of my band. I ruffled his messy light brown hair before standing up off the carpeted floor, adjusting my clothes over my 5ft6 body. Yes, I’m going to wear the same clothes I slept in, oh well! Let me introduce myself. My name is Mackenzie Wilmot, Mack for short, and I’m the bass guitarist of the band Never Regret. I’m 20 and I have icy blue eyes, long bleached blonde hair, three piercings in each earlobe, my belly button pierced, a Monroe piercing, a lip ring and a tattoo of ‘mon amour, ma vie’ in cursive across the back of my neck. I live with my mum still, but I have my reasons. And besides, I spend most my time in Logan and JC’s flat anyway.

Oh, and we all live in Detroit, Michigan.

“Stop with the loud noises. Or any noise at all,” Logan moaned, stumbling out of the bathroom, his short dark blonde hair sticking up at all angles, his dark blue eyes bloodshot.

“I told you not to have a tequila shooting competition the night before tour started,” Reece snickered, jumping onto one of the sofas.

“I don’t drink tequila,” I sang in reminder.

“Mackey Mouse was judge. I won,” JC grinned, sitting upright as he rubbed his tired eyes

“That you did, my French friend,” I chuckled, helping him off the floor.

Oh, yeah, JC moved over from France when he was 16. He still has a slight accent in his speech. All the boys are 3 years older than me at 23, but I met them through...

“I brought coffee for the pre-tour lushes!” Taylor called loudly, entering the apartment and kicking the door shut behind her.

Logan and JC scowled at our merch girl, only earning an innocent smile. She handed out the three coffees. Mmm mocha.

“I couldn’t go to sleep in case they cheated,” I yawned, sitting down next to JC and Logan on the free sofa.

Taylor just giggled, rolling her eyes, and sat down on Reece’s lap, kissing his lips in greeting. They’re dating, if you didn’t realise. They have been for nearly three years. I met Taylor when I repeated Junior year. Another story for another time. Taylor’s technically a year younger than me, 19, but we’re very close. She introduced me to her half-brother Logan and his two crazy best friends when I was 17, and it all went up from there really. Logan and Taylor look nothing alike, but their personalities are very similar. Both have their crazy moments, both live to party and have fun, and both of them love to love. Taylor and the boys are my best friends, my second family, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Is everyone packed?” Taylor smiled.

She may be our merch girl, Logan’s half-sister and a general pain in the ass, but Taylor always makes sure we’re organised. Gotta love her for that!

“Yes ma’am,” Logan mock-saluted.

JC jerked his thumb in the direction of the three suitcases, three duffle bags and all our equipment piled up by the stairs. I’d brought my stuff round last night.

“I can’t believe we’re actually going to be on tour for 6 months. Hell, I have never even been to New York!” JC said quietly, the caffeine starting to seep into his bloodstream.

“I’m going to miss my family,” I sighed, thinking of my mom, Jasmine and Lisa.

“Aww Mackey Mouse, you’ll see them again before you know it. And you had a big goodbye before you came over last night,” Logan reassured.

“Besides, you’ve got webcam and a sidekick – you can call every morning and every night, as well as web chatting whenever you’re free,” Taylor smiled supportively.

“True. It’s just going to be weird not being with them all the time,” I said with a weak smile.

“Cheer up, Mack, you get to perform on stage with my sexy ass,” JC grinned.

“And share a small bus with Reece’s hobbit feet,” Logan snickered.

Reece has incredibly smelly feet, and we never miss a chance to tease him about it.

“Hey!” Reece defended, pouting.

“He’s going to wear socks, aren’t you babe?” Taylor giggled.

“Not during sex,” Reece grumbled against her lips, before kissing her deeply.

I grimaced. Gross.

“Bus rule number one. No sex on the bus when anyone else is on there,” Logan and JC chanted.

We burst into laughter at the looks on Taylor and Reece’s faces.

“Losers,” Taylor said, sticking out her tongue.

“Just coz you won’t be getting any,” Reece taunted, running a hand over his mohican.

“You know the ladies love me,” Logan said cockily.

“And my accent drives them wild,” JC added.

“I, for one, couldn’t care less,” I said seriously.

“Mackenzie...” Reece sighed.

“Career and family first, you know that’s how I roll,” I reminded him.

“It doesn’t have to be that way,” Taylor said softly.

“It is and you know why. I need to focus only on my career for mom, Lisa and Jasmine, not on some musician who’s only in it for one thing,” I said simply.

“A cold heart is better than a broken one,” Logan and JC chanted.

“You two spend way too much time together,” Reece snorted, breaking the tension.

“Come on, group hug before the bus gets here!” Logan said excitedly.

We all laughed but did so, the five of us standing in a tight circle.

“Never Regret are here to rock and roll!” JC grinned.

“Hell yeah motherfuc...”

“Dude, what is with the gangster attitude today?” I chuckled, interrupting as we pulled out of the hug.

“Hey, if you can be all emo I can be ganger,” Reece teased.

“I’m not emo!” I squealed.

To prove my point, I jumped at him, knocking him to the ground. Hah, I don’t know how I did that! Reece is a 6ft 3 Incredible Hulk while I’m a 5ft 6 weed! I laughed with my friends, standing up again.

“Damn, Mack, that coffee kicked in quick,” Reece groaned, standing up.

Then three honks sounded outside, and we all whooped! The bus is here!

“Let’s get this party started!” Logan cheered, wiggling his hips.

I couldn’t agree more.

*

“This could be interesting...” Logan trailed off.

We had a slight problem. There are only four bunks on our small bus. There’s also a small toilet and a lounge/kitchen area. But only 4 bunks!

“Looks like Taylor’s sharing with me,” Reece smirked.

Logan narrowed his eyes, not happy about that, but didn’t say anything. Well, it’s not like we have much choice, we only even have limited room to store our equipment and merchandise under the bus and belongings on the bus!

“Alright, are you guys ready to go?” the bus driver Ron asked.

Ron’s a pretty cool guy. I think he looks like...Vince Vaughn, but a lot chubbier and with slicked back grey hair. Yeah, that’s sounds about right.

“Nearly. What’s the plan?” JC asked, smiling wearily.

“Well, it’s a 9 hour journey to New York, so I’ll split the drive in two. I’ll need a break and you’ll need food. The first show isn’t for a few days but it’s in New York, so Pete wants a meeting of all the bands before a couple of rehearsals. This tour is going to be big for his label as well as you lot,” Ron explained.

“9 hours, jeez,” I grumbled, earning laughter.

“If it helps, there’s an X-Box fitted into the TV. Pete wanted to apologise for the small bus, even though it’s a first tour for you,” Ron smiled.

“X-Box! Awesome!” Reece said happily.

“There’s wireless internet and all the jazz, so you can use laptops in the lounge. My only bus rule is no shitting on the bus. Just trust me on the one. You can do whatever the hell you want otherwise, because my booth is soundproof,” Ron chuckled.

“Thanks, Ron,” Logan said honestly.

“No problem. If we’re all set, I’ll start going. It’s going to be a long haul,” Ron announced.

We just nodded, leaving him to go back to the front of the bus. I’d just shoved my suitcase in the small space allocated under the bunks (me and JC were on one side, Reece and Logan were the other side, with me and Logan on the bottom, seeing as Logan was the shortest guy at 5ft 9), so my duffel bag was on my lap. I’d also brought my acoustic guitar up here. It’ll give us something to do if we get bored anyway.

“Who wants to put up stuff in their bunk first then?” JC asked.

“Not me, I’m gonna veg,” I yawned, shaking my head.

“I’ll go,” Logan said quickly, flashing a grin at Reece who scowled.

“Looks like it’s X-Box time for me and you babe,” Taylor laughed to her boyfriend.

“And a nap on the couches for me and you babe,” JC said mockingly to me.

“Sounds good to me,” I chuckled.

“Who’s porn magazine is this? I didn’t pack it!” Logan asked, disgusted.

Yeah, for some reason Logan doesn’t like porn. Strange guy.

“That’d be mine,” JC grinned, unashamed.

We looked at him, shocked by his bluntness.

“Well I’m gonna have to whack off at some point aren’t I? Can’t always find help,” JC snickered.

“New bus rule, masturbation in the bathroom only, and disinfect afterwards,” I said loudly.

“That applies to all but Mack, who is a nun,” Logan teased.

“Better that STD heaven,” I chuckled sleepily.

“I take offence to that,” Logan scowled.

“Good. Go and unpack,” I laughed, laying my head down with my duffel bag as a pillow.

10 minutes down, 8 hours and 50 minutes to go. Fuck, this was going to be a long start! And we hadn’t even met the other bands yet! I just hope they’re as friendly as Pete said they are. Then again, I’m not really one for socialising. This’ll be an interesting 6 months, that’s for sure.