Smiling at Everything

Grim took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose to keep calm. Jazz watched in mock-entertainment as their manager tried to contain his anger. His wrath wasn't anything to be afraid off. His tyrant of curses that he spilled when pissed off could hardly be called wrath.

But Jazz never really found it funny when he got angry. It reminded her of her mother. That was never a good thing.

"I'm going to ignore you for the rest of my life, Dorian," Grim grumbled.

"You can't ignore me," Dorian countered.

"He's right," Arpeggio said, shaking her head, "You can't ignore him."

Grim sighed, motioning for Matt to pick up where he left off. Matt patted his friend on the shoulder. He understood what it was like dealing with band members who felt the need to pick on their manager.

"For those of you who don't know I'm Matt and I manage All Time Low. This is Grim, he manages RxN. This is the graphic designer and the man who will be designing the photo shoot Joseph Alan," he said, looking to the two men next to him.

Jazz spaced out for a moment as the pair introduced themselves. She caught the word "manager" that spilled from both their mouths but nothing else. In all honesty, she didn't care who they were. It wasn't likely she would see them or interact with them. Dealing with the number of people she had to interact with already was hard enough. She didn't need more people added onto that.

"I don't know if you've gotten the chance to mingle yet but you'll have time to get to know each other during the tour," Grim said.

The statement caught Jazz's attention. What was he talking about? All Time Low and RxN already knew each other. Even better question, why did he and Matt have to introduce themselves?

Jazz's eyes darted to the end of the long table, noticing the group of people she hadn't seen there earlier. She wasn't shocked that she hadn't seen them. She had a habit of not noticing her surroundings. But she thought she would notice a whole group of people taking up half of the table.

"This is—" Grim started.

"I didn't even see you guys there," Jazz exclaimed, cutting Grim off, "I'm so sorry, I didn't introduce myself. I'm Jazz Elvis Presley."

She felt she needed to keep up her bubbly persona in front of them, even if she was planning on staying in the bus for as long as possible during the tour. It was important to keep up her happy appearance.

"Jazz, shut up," Dante said.

"Shut your face," Jazz retaliated.

"Grim, please continue," Lestat pushed.

Jazz pouted, making sure to look like she was joking, and crossed her arms over her chest. Dante rolled his eyes at her. He could only deal with so much hyperactivity before snapping.

"This is Jason; he's a representative from To Write Love On Her Arms. And this is Derek; he's a representative from LOVE 146. They're here to talk to you all about some aspects of the tour," Grim said and turned to the two men, "Gentlemen, you have their attention for about two point five seconds."

"I have a longer attention span than that," Dorian whined.

"No, you don't," Lestat stated.

"Am I the only one that understands the concept of a meeting?" Neon snapped, "Shut up."

The group stared at Neon. It was uncommon for her to snap at people regardless of the situation.

"Are you pregnant?" Dante asked.

"Super Sperm strikes again," Jack said.

"That makes me sound like a bad guy," Alex said.

"I'm not pregnant; I'm tired," Neon said.

Jazz looked at the two men, smiling, "You can continue."

"Are you sure? They're still talking," the man in the To Write Love On Her Arms shirt said.

Jazz assumed her was Jason unless the two decided to wear the other organization's shirt. She didn't doubt the two groups supported each other.

"They'll stop once you start talking," Zack stated.

"If you say so. Well, like Grim said, we needed to talk to you guys about a few tour related things," Jason said.

An immediate hush fell over the bands. They knew to listen when they were being told something important.

"First things first, there will be a sign on each of your merch tables saying where a portion of the profits are going, as well as a jar for donations. We already ran it past your managers and they said it would be fine," Jason said.

"On stage, we would like for at least one group to give an announcement about where profits are going with a short explanation about the organizations. You guys don't have to but it would be appreciated," Derek said.

"There will be an interview," Jason continued, "just like the one All Time Low and RxN did for the To Write Love On Her Arms benefit music festival. The interviewer will be one either of our organizations picks out. I'm pretty sure the topics they'll cover won't be organization specific but be prepared if they are. The interview was supposed to take place before the tour started but that won't happen. It'll be done during the tour within the first couple of weeks."

"I don't know if you guys are aware but the name of the tour is the After School Special tour. The reason behind the name is actually fairly simple. In the older after school specials that showed on television, the characters always faced some form of problem. With work and time, the problem was normally solved. That's basically the message our two organizations promote. It seemed fitting for the tour name."

"The photo shoot should be the last order of business, unless you guys have questions. We'll let Joseph take it from here," Jason nodded to Joseph.

Joseph smiled in return and took a spot at the front of the table. Dorian perked up, smiling flirtatiously at his boyfriend. The look didn't go unnoticed by Joseph.

"Stop looking at me like that," Joseph demanded.

"But I love you," Dorian said, winking.

"You're making it hard to concentrate."

"Because you know you want me," Dorian purred.

Jazz forced herself to laugh as the majority was doing. She could never see herself purring words for anyone. Ever. She knew she probably would never have sex again. She knew she wouldn't be able to keep a stable girlfriend or boyfriend because of it. She knew she was fucked up in the head.

Arpeggio screwed her eyes shut, "Ew."

"Ew, indeed," Lestat said.

"You're just jealous because my boyfriend is sexier than your's," Dorian stuck his tongue out at Lestat.

"Too bad I'm not gay."

"Would you two mind shutting up?" Dante said.

"How many times have you said that today?" Jazz asked, still forcing a smile.

She had to get involved at some point. It was expected. They fought like this often. Nothing that was said was ever serious. At the end of the day, no one hated each other. It was just how everyone got along; it was how they showed love. If anyone was hurting, they would step in to help each other.

"Enough for you people to know to shut up."

"Oh really?" Dorian asked.

Jazz let her mind draw away from the argument, having contributed just enough to get away with not talking.

"Are they always like that?" Jason asked.

"Sadly, yes," Joseph replied.