Dear Summer

Abbey loved summer, she really did. However, there were aspects of the gloriously sunny three months that she wasn't fond of. The main things being sweat and sunburns. Usually the Hispanic influence from her mother's side of the family saved her from the uncomfortable burns, but just to be on the safe side, she had a tendency to apply sunscreen as soon as she felt overly warm.

At the moment, sunscreen was the topic of her argument with Kinsley. "What do you mean 'you forgot'?" demanded Abbey.

Kinsley cowered behind the drawstring Nike bag that she had been in charge of packing before the two girls left for the first date of the Vans Warped Tour. "I thought I put it in here, I really did," she insisted. "It was sitting right on the counter in the bathroom after I put it on, and then I set it on the bed and... Oh."

"Oh?" Abbey repeated. "Oh what?"

Obviously uncomfortable, Kinsley glanced down at one of her converse encased feet. "You see, that's when Jack sent me this really funny text message..."

Abbey felt her eye twitch. "This is all Alex Gaskarth's fault," she declared as her hands clenched into fists.

Kinsley's eyebrows furrowed. "No, Jack sent me the text," she corrected.

"Jack is friends with Alex. It all boils down to that tight jean wearing, straightener wielding douche bag," she explained.

"It's not a big deal, Abs," Kinsley insisted in a soothing tone. "I'm sure Matt has some on the bus that he'll let you use."

Suddenly, Abbey's stomach felt queasy, and she was quite sure that it had nothing to do with the fact that she'd passed on breakfast that morning. "It's fine," she backtracked, "I don't think I'll burn that bad."

But Kinsley had already grabbed Abbey's wrist and was leading her over towards All Time Low's merch tent. "It's fine," Kinsley said airily, "I'm sure Matt will be glad for the excuse to run onto the air conditioned bus."

When they stopped before the tent, Abbey smacked her sunglasses off of her head in order to create a barrier of some sort between Matt and herself. She had been hoping that by some miracle she'd be able to avoid Kinsley's older cousin all day, but as per usual, fate wasn't holding her in it's favor. "Matt!" Kinsley exclaimed, capturing his attention instantly.

Beads of sweat broke out on Matt's palms when he saw Abbey standing with his younger cousin. He didn't know what he had expected when Kinsley said that she was coming to Warped—she never went to concerts without Abbey—but somehow, he had deluded himself into thinking that he wouldn't have to see Abbey. It wasn't that he disliked her, it was just so hard to keep everything that had happened between them a secret.

He cleared his throat nervously. "What's up, Kid?"

"I kind of forgot the sunscreen at the hotel room in a very unfortunate turn of events," Kinsley explained, "And Abbey's Mexican heritage just isn't what it used to be. Do you think you could take her to the bus and let her borrow yours?"

Matt glanced at Abbey and then back to Kinsley. "Uh, I'm a little busy here," he declined, even though All Time Low's actual merch guy, Vinny, seemed to have things under control. He pulled his pass off and handed it to Abbey. "Just go grab it. I'm pretty sure I left it in the bathroom."

"Okay, thanks," Abbey muttered as she took the pass. Her fingers brushed Matt's, and she instantly retracted her arm. She turned without another word and hurried to the entrance to the busses, which was fortunately close.

Once she was away from Matt, Abbey realized that she had forgotten to ask how she was supposed to discern which of the million busses belonged to All Time Low. She bit her lip and was about to pull out her phone to call Kinsley for help when she noticed a particularly attractive guy with brown hair walking off of a nearby bus.

"Uh, excuse me," she called, catching his attention.

He turned to her and pushed his sunglasses onto his head. "Can I help you?" he asked as he shot her a dazzling smile.

"Yeah," Abbey said, returning the smile. "I'm looking for All Time Low's bus."

The guy hesitated. "Uh, I'm not really sure if—"

"Oh, I'm not a rabid fan," Abbey clarified, showing him the pass that Matt gave her. "Just looking for some sunscreen."

"Right this way then," the guy said, offering Abbey his arm in an overly gallant gesture. She giggled but accepted it. "So do you know one of the guys in the band?" her brown haired companion questioned as they weaved in between busses.

"I've met them," Abbey explained, "but my best friend Kinsley is their tour manager's cousin. And she forgot our sunscreen at the hotel, so I'm stealing his."

"Sounds fair," the guy agreed with another smile. Abbey found that she liked his smiles quite a bit. They stopped in front of a black and white bus. "This is your stop," the guy added as he gestured to the vehicle.

Abbey gave him a final smile. "Thanks," she said as she put her hand on the door.

Before she could leave him entirely, the guy called, "Jonathon."

Her face betraying her bewilderment, Abbey turned around. "Excuse me?" she asked.

"Jonathon Cook," the guy repeated, "That's my name. I could tell you were dying to ask."

Abbey giggled. "Well, thank you for lending me your amazing navigational skills, Jonathon," she replied. "My name's Abbey. Maybe I'll see you around later today." Then before he could say anything else, she stepped entirely into the cool, air conditioned bus.

"I think this is heaven," she sighed to herself as she felt the air drying her sweaty skin.

"Must be, because I spy an angel."

She turned around and glared when she saw Alex Gaskarth lounging on the couch. "Are you kidding?" she demanded.

"This is my bus," he pointed out.

Abbey continued to scowl at him but didn't shoot back a witty retort; he was right about the bus being his territory. "Just give me five seconds," Abbey requested as she turned and walked towards the bathroom.

As promised, the tube of sunscreen was laying on the floor by the sink. She fixed a critical eye on herself in the mirror before she began applying the lotion. She looked decent, she supposed. The extended work out that she had put in at a random New Jersey gym the previous day hadn't done as much as she had hoped, other than leave her muscles aching. The tops of her cheeks and the bridge of her nose was burnt, but other than that, there wasn't much red on her yet.

She quickly applied sunscreen to her arms, legs and chest, eager to put more distance between herself and Alex. Sure, he was good looking, but it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that he was a prick. She cast a glance over her shoulder to make sure he wasn't hovering in the hall before she pulled her tanktop off and tried to spread the sunscreen on the back of her shoulders.

"Need some help?"

"Why?" Abbey queried of no one in particular, not bothering to pull her tanktop back over her bikini top. "Why are you always there every time I turn around?"

Alex gave her a smirk as he took the sunscreen from her. "Maybe it's a sign, Abs," he chortled as he put a hand to her right shoulder.

"Don't call me Abs," she requested weakly. Her desire to argue with him was beginning to fade as he rubbed the aching muscles at the top of her back.

"I don't get why you hate me," Alex said in a light tone as his hands traveled lower. She would've protested, but the firm hands reminded her aching back of the shiatsu massages that she and Kinsley used to get back home.

She bit back a sigh before she answered him. "Because I know your type," she snapped. "Cocky, arrogant, immature pricks who think that they can get whatever and whoever they want."

"That sounds like a pretty accurate assessment of the band guy stereotype," Alex assented. "But you're prematurely judging me. I could shock you."

Abbey rolled her eyes. "Please. Like you didn't judge me the second I walked into Matt's."

"I try not to judge people," Alex retorted as he wiped a drop of sunscreen off one of the strings of Abbey's red bikini. "I could read you pretty easily though."

She let out a laugh as she turned around and crossed her arms. "What'd you figure out?" she demanded. "Ten to one, you're wrong."

Another smirk worked it's way onto Alex's face. "When'd you sleep with Matt?" he inquired. He gave it a second for the question to sink in before he added, "And why doesn't your bud Kinsley know?"

The blood drained from Abbey's face, and aside from her slight sunburn, she was left white. "Alex, you can't tell anyone," she responded. She hated the pleading tone in her voice.

"Actually, I could," Alex retorted with a grin. Abbey sighed in a resigned fashion, and tears blurred her vision. Alex cleared his throat before he concluded, "But I, uh, I won't."

She exhaled in relief. "Thank you," she said grudgingly after a second. He smiled, which forced Abbey to mutter, "This doesn't mean I like you."

In an irritating manner, he laughed. "None of this means that I like you either, babe," he agreed as he reached out to touch her cheek.

Abbey slapped his hand away. "I'm never going to survive a summer with you," she grumbled as she pulled her grey tanktop back on and stalked off the tour bus. Almost as soon as she reentered the venue, Kinsley assailed her.

"Abs! You're never going to guess who I met," she grinned.

"Who?" Abbey replied, although her attention wasn't entirely on the new conversation. She was still too frazzled from her encounter with Alex.

"Just come on," Kinsley said, dragging Abbey along to a new tent. A group of three guys was huddled beneath the shade, and Abbey smiled when she recognized a familiar face.

"Nice to see you again, Abbey," Jonathon grinned.

"You too," Abbey replied. Despite the fact that she liked being around Jonathon, her eyes were dragged away from him when Alex walked into the area. She noticed that he was looking at her too, and mostly for his benefit, she hugged Jonathon.

Kinsley's blonde eyebrows knit together. "You know each other?" she asked, her eyes demanding why Abbey hadn't told her about this.

"Sort of," Abbey explained for the group around then. Jonathon's friends were sending him questioning gazes as well. "I got kind of lost in that sea of busses, and Jonathon saved me."

"Just doing my civic duty," Jonathon shrugged modestly. One of his friends, a bleach blonde, laughed at him.

As anticipated, a hand closed around Abbey's arm. "Hey, Jon," Alex said, nodding in greeting. "Mind if I borrow Abbey for a second?"

"Don't keep her too long," Jonathon replied as a girl approached with something for him to sign.

Alex dragged Abbey a few feet away from the merch tent before he accused, "Thought you had all band guys labeled as egotistical and not worth your time."

She rolled her eyes. "Of course not," she replied in a falsely sweet tone, "It's just you."

His brown eyes were blazing with a mixture of excitement and irritation. "You sure you want to do this, Eliades?" he inquired.

"Let the games begin, Gaskarth," she snapped as she wrenched her arm out of his grip. She spun on her heel and returned to Kinsley's side, happily inquiring, "So what'd I miss?"

"Kyle invited us to a barbecue later," Kinsley explained, smiling giddily. It was easy for Abbey to deduce that her friend was interested in this Kyle.

Abbey's hazel eyes followed Alex as he walked away to his own merch tent. "Great," she grinned, her natural competitiveness emerging. It was going to be an interesting night at the very least.