Without You Around

I stood off to the side of Hey Monday as they signed for fans out front of the venue. I had a ballpoint pen tucked up into my beanie, and my binder tucked under my right arm. I skimmed over a few emails on my blackberry, before I heard someone clear their throat in front of me.

“Yeah,” I said looking up to see a familiar face in front of me, “Well if it isn’t Mr. Vinny Vegas!”

I gave him a big hug, which he quickly returned.

“I’ve missed you Addy,” he said as we separated, “I’m glad you’re on this tour, even if you don’t work on the ATL crew anymore.”

“I missed you too little bro,” I said causing him to laugh, “Shit, I better get the guys and Cassadee backstage so they can warm up. I’ll come chill with you after their set, and I get everything settled.”

“Okay, I’ll hold you to that,” he said giving me another hug before I went to the band.

“Sorry guys, I have to steal them away,” I said earning some groans of protest, “But I bet they’ll be out after to sign.”

The guys and Cassadee all nodded in conformation, and followed me back into the venue. We headed back to their dressing room and they all dispersed to do their own thing. I sat at my makeshift desk and opened my Macbook, before starting my mail program.

I read and replied to all of the important emails, including one for our hotel reservation in 2 days. Once I had cleared everything up, I played with the random games I had on it, until it was time to set up the stage.

I went out with the rest of the crew and made sure everything was in its correct place. When everything was done, I grabbed my flashlight and flashed it twice towards the sound and light booth before walking off. The intro started playing, and I soon found myself doing normal Tour manager things I hadn’t done since the end of summer.

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I swiped my hair away from my eye as I went up to the merch table, where Vinny wasn’t paying attention. I started a slow jog, gaining me a few weird looks, before hopping over the table and startling Vinny.

“Parkour!” I said as I landed next to him.

“God, you’re so weird Addy,” he said with a laugh, “So what’s the deal with you and Danny? I haven’t seen you guys talk once.”

“You should ask him if you really want to know,” I said shrugging, “I’ve been calling and texting him trying to figure out, but he hasn’t returned anything. Which, might I add, is annoying as fuck.”

“He’s being stupid,” Vinny said shaking his head, “That’s exactly what he’s doing. He vied after you for practically all of Warped, and when he finally gets you, he drops you like it was nothing. He needs some sense knocked into him.”

“While I’m pissed at him, I don’t think I’d be too happy if he’d beat you up,” I said letting out a chuckle, “But he is being stupid. If he can’t grow up, and talk to me about whatever it is that went wrong, then I’m done trying to find out. I won’t let him bring me down!”

“Good idea! Don’t need to see my sister all sad,” he said laughing with me.

“You’re his sister?” I heard an unfamiliar voice ask from in front of the table.

“No, we’re just really close,” I said smiling to the fan in front of us, “But can I help you with any Hey Monday stuff?”

The girl nodded and got both an ATL shirt, as well as a Hey Monday shirt, before walking off and going back into the stage area of the venue. Vinny and I continued to talk, and did so until ATL got halfway through their set. That’s when it got busier, and I decided to let Vinny tend to his work, and I would go back to mine.

When I went backstage, the band was packing all of their personal belongings and getting ready to go out and sign. I packed my laptop up, and gathered my notebook and its lose sheets. I shoved everything into my now heavy backpack and double checked the room as I heard the final chords of ATL’s set ring through the venue.

I went out the back door and made my way to the bus, before throwing my backpack on my bunk as well as my plaid shirt. I shivered a little as I walked out of the bus, seeing as I was only in a tank top, but felt the heat hit me as soon as I walked into the venue. I pulled my hair up into a sloppy bun, before getting to work grabbing all of Hey Monday’s left over gear.

I was halfway through securing all of Jersey’s guitars, when I heard an all too familiar voice ring out from behind me.

“We don’t talk for two weeks and you flaunt your body like that? Unbelievable,” Danny said while leaning against one of Rian’s road cases with a nasty scoff.

“You don’t talk to me for two weeks, and that’s the first thing you have to say to me?” I said slamming the latches closed, “What the fuck is your problem? Why all of the sudden are you treating me like complete shit? What did I do to you?”

I could tell he was thinking of an answer, but looked down when his mouth didn’t produce any sound. I scoffed at him, and tugged the case off of the ground before exiting the venue. I made my way through the throngs of kids and into the trailer where I passed the case off to Derek, our guitar tech for the tour. Taylor, our merch guy, came in with his last tub and told us we had everything and were good to lock the trailer up. We did, and went out to join the bands, and kids.

I was leaning against the side of the bus, texting Alice about what had happened, when the man of the hour walked up and stood up in front of me.

“What? I’m flaunting too much? Well excuse me, but I’m still hot from being in that venue, and don’t have a jacket readily available at the moment,” I said feeling angry.

“God, do you let anyone get a word in?” he said seeming frustrated, “Well I was going to try to apologize, but I can see that you are in no mood to accept it, so I’ll keep it to myself.”

“Oh, so it took you 10 minutes to think of something decent to say to me?” I said standing up straighter and closer to him, “Then you just suddenly can’t? Cool Danny. Real cool. Now just run along and string another girl along and then just drop her like you did to me.”

“Just go find another random guy to get drunk with and spend the night with him,” he spat out causing tears to form in my eyes.

“Fuck you, Danny,” I pushing him as hard as I could causing him to stumble, “If you’re talking about Josh, nothing happened between us. Get your facts straight.”

He went to say something, but I walked away before he even had a chance to speak. I went into the bus to grab the megaphone, and turned it on before walking back outside.

“Alright guys, I have to steal Hey Monday away from you now,” I said earning a few groans, “Sorry, it’s just time for bus call, we have a long drive ahead of us.”

The band signed the last few autographs they could, before making their way onto the bus behind me. We all dispersed throughout the bus, and I chose to lay in my bunk and think about what had just happened outside.

I could feel tears welling up in my eyes, but wouldn’t let them fall knowing it was just me letting him get to me. I blinked them back, and slid into pajamas, before sending Alice one last text, and sliding under my phone under my pillow.

I was about a minute from sleep when my phone buzzed, indicating I had a new message. I pulled it out, and saw the red dot hovering over my BBM folder before hesitantly opening it.

Danny’s name was bolded and highlighted, telling me that he had been the one to send me something. I debated on just deleting it, but opened it, and couldn’t decide how to feel about it.

Addison, I’m sorry for what I said to you both times tonight. I know you probably don’t want to hear from me, but I need you to know this. We need to talk when we’ve both cooled down. I miss you.