But I Never Promised You

Beep. Beep. Beep.

I stretched and turned off my alarm. Looking over I noticed that Alex was still sleeping. Of course he wouldn’t wake up to the alarm.

We were going to tour today.

I shook him. “Alex! We’re going on tour today. Wake up!”

He opened his eyes and smiled. “Mika, we’re going on tour today!”

“I know. I just said that.”

“Oh.” He laughed and kissed me.

“We have to leave soon; you better shower so I can pack.”

He nodded and I walked to my closet and grabbed my suitcases that had been packed away. It didn’t take long, only about ten minutes to pack everything I thought I needed for the trip. If I didn’t have something, I’d make Alex buy it for me while we were there. I’m devious, I know.

Once Alex was out of the shower, I took mine. When I was done there was still roughly half an hour left before we had to leave for the airport.

“Do you want to go and make sure the rest of the guys are up so we won’t end up being late getting to the airport?” Alex asked me.

“Sure. Knowing Jack, I’ll be surprised if he’s actually awake yet.”

We walked the short distance across the hall and knocked on the door of the apartment Alex was supposed to share with Jack.

Within seconds, Jack opened the door. He already looked as if he had consumed copious amounts of sugar.

“Mika! Mika! Mika! We go on tour today!”

“I know, Jack. How much sugar have you had this morning?”

“Um…a lot?”

“I knew it.”

“We should go skateboarding before we leave to go to the airport. Can we please, Mika?”

“Jack, we don’t have enough time to go skateboarding. We have to leave in half an hour.”

“The plane isn’t going to leave without us Mika.”

“Okay, Jack, just because you are a celebrity that doesn’t mean that the plane will wait for you.”

“Actually, Mika, it does. The label got a private plane for the tour for all of the bands. They wouldn’t leave without the headliners. It would make for some very upset Japanese people.”

“We’re still not going skateboarding, Jack. I already feel as if I’m forgetting to do something,” I looked at Alex before I continued, “Did I grab everything I need? I didn’t forget to pack my toothbrush or anything, did I?”

“No, you double checked everything. I don’t know what you could be forgetting.”

“Dude, Mika, have you seen your brother’s new car? It’s sick. You should make him drive you to the airport. It would be worth waking him up and having him be grouchy for a while.”

“That’s it. Conner. I haven’t told him I’m going on tour yet. I’ll be right back.”

I raced up the stairs to the third story where Conner’s apartment was. I made sure to pound on the door. He was a pretty heavy sleeper and I wanted to make sure he heard my knocking.

Roughly a minute later, a disgruntled Conner opened the door.

“Mika, what on earth are you doing here this early? It’s not even five in the morning.”

“I forgot to tell you last night. I’m going on tour with Alex and the rest of the guys. I’m going to be gone for eight months. I had to come say goodbye.”

I pulled him into a hug. It was slightly unexpected for Conner, I could tell. He didn’t immediately hug me back.

“Since when are they going on tour? I hung out with Zack and Rian like two days ago and they didn’t know anything about it. Or they just didn’t say anything to me.”

“I think they hadn’t found out yet. It was sort of last minute. The previous band couldn’t go. Their drummer went to prison.”

“What did he go to prison for?”

“Hitting me.”

“You’re kidding.”

“I wish I was.”

“Wow! Is there any other big news I need to know before you go? That’s two things so far this morning.”

A strand of my hair had fallen into my face and as I reached up to push it behind my ear, Conner grabbed my hand.

“What is this, little sister? Do I see a ring on this finger?”

“Alex proposed to me and I said yes. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I was just overwhelmed. Finding out your boyfriend is going on tour for eight months and then having him propose to you and force you to come on tour rattles your brain a little bit.”

I looked at the time on my phone. I still had another ten minutes before I had to go back downstairs.

“That’s a lot to process.”

“I know, but I have to go big brother. I don’t want to be late getting to the airport.”

“Okay. Have fun over in the foreign parts of the world.”

“I’ll certainly try to.”

He smiled. “Give your big brother another hug before you go. I won’t see you for another eight months.”

I gave him a hug and kissed his cheek before walking back downstairs. I felt lighter. I knew I would feel guilty the entire trip if I hadn’t told Conner before I left that I was going and that I was now engaged.

As I stepped off the last stair to the second floor the guys were just opening the door of the apartment. They must have been getting impatient. Silly boys. I wasn’t going to make us late; that was their job, after all.

“Are you ready to get going? I don’t want to be late.”

“We’ve been ready, Mika. It was you who neglected to tell your brother vital pieces of information until the last minute.”

“You just hush that mouth of yours Zackary Merrick. I came back with plenty of time. So, are we all riding in the Cadillac?”

“It would make more sense that way.”

“Let’s get everything loaded into the back, then and we can get going.”

“We’re one step ahead of you, Mika. We did that while you were talking to your brother.”

“Oh, well, let’s go then.”

“Lead the way.”

“I don’t know where you guys parked. One of you will have to ‘lead the way’ I’m afraid.”

Zack just rolled his eyes at me.

I giggled and followed him out to the parking garage.

We got to the airport with twenty minutes to spare. Those boys really didn’t know how to obey the speed limit, but I suppose having little traffic helped some.

As we were going through security, I was surprised when none of the guards mentioned anything about me having a suitcase with two skateboards inside. I guess they didn’t feel like they were a matter of national security or something of the sort.

We were sitting down, waiting for the time to load the plane when an important looking man in a business suit approached us. I wondered if he was the head of hopeless or All Time Low’s manager.

“Good morning boys and Mika.”

“Good morning,” we all responded.

“Are we all ready to take over Japan?”

“You bet I am,” I said. “The Japanese won’t even know what hit them.”

“That’s the spirit, Mika. I’ll make sure to allow a day for you and Jack to go skateboarding. I hear you are rather good.”

“I’m alright. I’m sure Tony Hawk could still beat me in a skate-off though.”

“Psh, yeah right, Mika. You’ve got Tony beat by a long shot,” Jack said.

“You’re funny, Barakat.”

At this the man from the label laughed.

I raised my eyebrow at him. “What?”

“I can tell you and Jack are best friends. You bicker about everything.”

“This has been one time.”

“Yes, but I’ve heard them mention a hundred others.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but stopped realizing I would probably sound foolish.

Just then, the announcer came over the PA system.

“Flight 47 is now boarding from the east gate.”

“That’s us, guys. Jack and Mika, I would like you two to try and not be too disorderly. I’m not sure how well the other bands will take to you around each other yet. From what I’ve heard you two are much more…rowdy than the other bands are.”

“Aw, come on. That’s no fun,” Jack said.

“That’s just the way it’s going to be. Each band has their own section of the plane so to speak. You are permitted to mingle with the other bands if they allow you to do so, but don’t push yourselves on them.”

Of course, he had to look between me and Jack as he said this.

“Why do you keep looking at me when you say these things? It’s Jack’s fault whenever we get lost or in trouble, not mine.”

“Hey, don’t blame everything on me. There were a couple times when it was you starting things.”

“Name one time, Jack Barakat.”

“Last week. We went to the movies and you got us kicked out for yelling at the screen.”

“Excuse me, who was the one yelling at the screen? I was yelling at you to shut up.”

“Same difference.”

“No, it’s not, Barakat. You’re trying to make me out to look like the bad guy when you’ve already filled that position.”

“How does this sound? I’ll steal Mika and we’ll have crazy plane sex and then you won’t have to worry about what antics her and Jack will be up to.”

“Alex, that’s not going to happen, either. I’m sorry,” their manager said.

“Damn. It was worth a shot though.”

“No, it really wasn’t.”

“Can we just get on the plane already?”

“Yes, let’s go.”

We all stood up and started walking over to the east gate to where the plane would be. I was ready to get on board. I wanted to go back to sleep; although, something told me that wouldn’t be happening for a while. I would like to call that gut instinct, or Jack Barakat, in other words.

I was correct. When I got to All Time Low’s section of the plane I collapsed into a seat only to be sat on by Jack.

“Come on, Mika. Let’s play.”

“Jack, I’m tired. I just want to cuddle up to Alex and go to sleep. I’ll play when I wake up. We’ll probably still be on this cursed plane.”

“You’re no fun, Mika. No fun at all.”

He stuck his tongue out at me. “That’s too bad for you, Jack. Look practically everyone else is going to sleep, too. I’m sure when I have woken up; most of them will have too. We can have lots of fun with them then, Jack. We’ll probably even get threatened to get kicked off the plane, we’ll have so much fun.”

“You better, Mika or I’ll not speak to you again.”

“You will, too, Jack. You like me too much to not talk to me.”

“That’s just what I want you to think.”

“Sure. Goodnight Jack.”

We were getting ready to take off. I put my seatbelt on and I could feel myself being sucked under into sleep.