The Only Rings I Have With Me Are the Ones Around My Eye

“Wow,” was the only word Kasey had spoke the whole car ride. Audri fidgeted with her fingers as Kasey took in the whole story that had unfolded in the last few years. “You are dealing with some tough shit.” She sighed as she turned off the highway. “And who ever the hell had you kidnapped is a fucking bastard!” Audri laughed at the comment. “Man,” Kasey laughed. “I don’t know whether to give my apologies or be overly jealous that you’re so close with All Time Low. My friend and I always talk about how much fun it would be to be part of a tour and do sound and lights.”

“It is a lot of fun, when everything is going right.” Audri smiled, but that faded. “It’s usually why you don’t see girls on tour with the boys…boys and girls cause drama together.” She sighed and looked out the window.

“Well…” Kasey glanced over at Audri. “From what you’ve just told me…Jack loves you…a lot…” Audri nodded with a small hidden smile on her lips. “Now his tweets make sense.” Kasey mumbled.

“What?” Audri looked at her.

“Well you know how Jack tweets all the dumb shit like ‘Imma eat your babies!’ Lately he hardly tweets, and if he does, it’s some sappy lyrics. The other day he quoted Framing Hanley.” Kasey shrugged.

“Kasey,” Audri spoke softly. “You promise you’re going to keep this to yourself?”

“No one would believe me if I did tell anyways. Yeah. I’ll keep it a secret.” Kasey smiled at her.

“It only has to be a secret for now. I’m pretty sure Jack and Alex will make it known that they owe you and shit.” Audri smiled, turning back to the window to see if she could tell where they were.

“We’re almost there. About two minutes. It’s just around the corner.” Kasey smiled. “I should probably let you have one of my sweatshirts.” Audri laughed lightly.

“Thanks.”

****

Audri pulled the green hoddie over her head and pulled her hair up into a pony. The only thing she really wanted, besides Jack, was a long ass shower. She and Kasey shut the doors and made their way up the stairs of the Broadway theater and rang the buzzer to the office. They waited a few minutes and finally someone came on the line.

“Yes?” An old voice spoke.

“Is Eric here today?” Audri asked.

“Yes. Does he know you’re coming?”

“No.” Audri picked at her nails.

“You’re supposed to have an appointment.”

“Tell him it’s Audri Moore. I’ll bet you ten bucks he’ll let me in. Now go get him.” Audri snapped. She heard a few giggles slip from Kasey’s mouth, and Audri smiled herself.

“One moment,” The woman sounded annoyed and like she should be retired. Audri leaned against the railing of the stairs and counted the seconds. Kasey played with her blonde hair and shifted her eyes between Audri, and the doors, waiting to see if this Eric guy was going to come out or not. She looked into the busy street of New York city. The buildings were tall, and the sun was high, which was unusual for New York these days. It had been so cloudy for weeks. It was nice that the sun was finally out, it was even in the low 70’s. Kasey turned back to Audri only for her head to snap to the door that was flung open with a guy in black skinnys running to Audri and attacking her in a hug.

“WHERE THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN!? YOU FUCKING SCARED ALL OF US! YOU BETTER HAVE A GOOD FUCKING EXPLAINITON!” A brown skater haired boy shook her back and forth. “You smell.”

“Thanks Adam.” She stuck her tongue out at him. “I didn’t notice!”

“Answer my questions!”

“You look like shit,” The guy who was standing at the top of the steps had brown spiky
hair with some nice sized gages.

“Thanks Eric.” Audri shot a joking glare at him. “I’ll tell you guys the story in a moment.”

“Who’s this?” Eric said as he stepped down a few steps and looked at Kasey.

“She’s the girl who helped me out of this assholes place. Kasey was tackled by Adam
next, who kept repeating thank you. “He’s hyper.” She shrugged. Kasey laughed slightly at the fact Adam had no idea who she was, but she knew quite a few things about him, considering she wanted his job.

“Come inside guys. Audri we need to get you cleaned up hunny.” Eric said as he clicked
his tongue and offered his hand, leading all of them back into the building.

****

Jack pulled his duffle bag out of the back of the bus and started to throw clothes in it while he argued with the airport on the phone. “No! I need a ticket to NEW YORK!” He said as he threw boxers into the bag. He then jumped over to his bunk and started to pull things from there like his Ipad and cell phone charger and shoving those into the bag too. He walked to the front of the bus and grabbed a beer from the fridge and headed to the back lounge which had clothes everywhere from where he had been digging through this stuff. “I DON’T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT THE PRICE!”

“Jack…” Zack called softly standing and watching him pack stuff.

“No. No I just need one ticket to New York CITY!”

“Jack..” Zack called again.

“HOLD ON ZACK!” Jack snapped. Alex walked into the back lounge and pulled the cell
phone from Jacks and hit end on the phone. “WHAT THE FUCK!?” Jack’s eyes filled with anger.

“Jack sit the fuck down.” Alex growled. Jack looked behind Alex to see Matt Flyzik, Brooklyn, Rian, Zack, and a few other crew members. He sat down on the coffee table and looked up at Alex, fuming. “Jack. You can’t go to New York.” Jack opened his mouth to protest but Alex beat him to it. “NO. Shut up. I’m talking. We have a week of this tour left. We are not cancelling it because you want to go see Audri.”

“Alex you’re being an asshole.” Jack said as calm as he could, which wasn’t very calm at all, he pretty much just spit that at Alex.

“We will fly Audri here, but you aren’t leaving.” Matt said stepping forward to help Alex out in the situation.

“You can’t stop me!” Jack growled.

“JACK JUST LISTEN FOR ONCE!” Alex screamed curling his hands into fists. “We all miss her! You KNOW that! We will fly her here! You can’t leave though! We’ll have her here by morning if you want, but you’re not leaving!”

“How are you gonna get her here by morning huh Mister SmartAss!? She has no FUC KING PHONE!” Jack stood up so him and Alex were about nose to nose.

“THEN WE’LL CALL ADAM! SHE’S BOUND TO HAVE FOUND HIM BY NOW!” Alex glared.

“THIS WOULD BE DIFFERENT IF IT WAS BROOKLYN!” Jack snapped.

“Don’t even try to change this around.” Alex growled again.

“NO ALEX. FUCK YOU. YOU KNOW HOW THIS WOULD GO. YOU’D LEAVE TO GO GET HER, AND THE TOUR WOULD BE CANCELLED! BECAUSE EVERYTHING IS YOUR FUCKING WORD ISN’T IT!?”

“Jack. You know this band isn’t like that.” Rian said stepping forward.

“Shut the fuck up Rian. You know it too!” Jack shot him a glare. “I’m going.”

“Fine. Go.” Alex glared. “But you’re out of the band then.” There were a few gasps from the back of the crowd. Jack looked at Alex wide eyed. Matt put a hand on Alex’s shoulder before Alex shrugged it off. “Don’t.” He turned from Jack to exit the bus.

“I can’t believe you, Alex.” Jack shook his head. “You know. You know everything, and you put me up against that? That’s fucking low.” Jack’s fists were clutched so tightly his knuckles were white. He shifted his eyes over to Rian and Zack who looked down at the ground before Jack could read anything in their eyes. Alex turned for a moment, his mouth open as if he was going to argue, but he closed it and shook his head and tossed Jack his Iphone, making his way to the front of the bus and out the door. The crowd clears moments after and Jack sat back on the coffee table, putting his head in his hands. Brooklyn was the only one standing in the door way when everyone cleared. She took a step toward Jack, but he shook his head.

“Come on Jacky.” She said walking over and sitting down next to him, rubbing his back slowly. “Alex didn’t mean that.” Jack shook his head and stood up, making his way to his bunk and shutting the curtain.