Stairway To Heaven
Poker Night
“Heads!”
I looked up from the book I was reading to see a crumpled piece of paper come flying my way. Since my reaction time sucks, the crumpled mass hit me right on the nose.
“Who threw that?” I asked angrily. I looked at each of my band mates with a raised eyebrow. They were all sitting down looking innocent.
“He did it,” Jason piped up and pointed accusingly at Jake
.
“Loser, we had a truce.” Jake peered at Jason from his hiding place in his bunk.
“The tables have turned.”
“That’s it, you better run for your life.” Jake turned around and started to descend from the back seat.
“That’s not fair, there’s no place to run to in a tour van thing.”
“That would be your problems not mine.”
They went on about that for a while until Natalie shut them up. That is right we are on tour. We just left like yesterday. It has also been 2 weeks since Zacky has been in jail. Before I left I went and visited him, telling him about us touring and we would not be back until about a week before Christmas. He did not take it too well; he went on about us missing Halloween and Thanksgiving. I had to remind him that it was the end of September and that he would be missing Halloween any way. Also the guys went home. They were only in Seattle for a short amount of time (well 3 months is not that short but whatever.)
“Will you guys quiet down?!” Dave’s angry voice came from his bunk. Jason and Jake rolled their eyes and found a quieter way to entertain themselves. Natalie let out an exasperated sigh and placed herself next to me.
“Hey” she smiled warmly and crossed her legs.
“You feel okay?” I questioned my friend’s health because she has been trying to control the ‘two monsters’ all day.
“I don’t even know why I try. They just give me a massive headache.” I assumed that she was referring to Jason and Jake.
“Ya well, you know them”
“Ya, how much longer do we have till we reach Phoenix?”
I shrugged, “I’ll go ask Steve for you.”
She smiled in return, “Thanks.”
I made my way to the front of the bus. “Hey Steve.” I greeted him.
“Hey Amii, what’s up?” Steve was an old friend of Matt's and tour managed A7x with their first tour. Since he was currently not with a band, Matt arranged a meeting for ua and Steve has been the manager ever since.
“Just wondering how much longer till we get to Phoenix,”
He chuckled, “Well we are approaching Orange County now. So like maybe 4 hours.”
A light bulb clicked in my brain. Hey can you stop at Orange County when you get there please?”
“Sure we can spend the night, because it’s almost 11:00 now and I’m tired. Why stop there?”
“We have some friends there.”
“Cool which town?”
“Umm, Huntington Beach I think.”
I rotated my body to face three rows of seats. I let out a sigh and walked down the small hallway to Dave's bunk.
“Hey Dave” I sat myself down next to his legs. Since he had one of the bottom bunks.
“Hey” He returned groggily. He stretched out his legs and laid them on my lap.
“Ew gross, your feet stink” I plugged my nose and pushed them off of me.
Dave just laughed, “I’m assuming that I’m not going to be getting any sleep with you here.”
“That would be correct.”
“Smartass”
“Hey I heard that, you know we are pulling up near Orange County soon.”
“That’s cool.” Dave flipped onto his stomach and nuzzled his face into his pillow.
“You don’t care do you?”
“Not one bit.”
“You’re no fun”
“No I’m not, I’m actually so boring you should leave me alone and go bother someone more entertaining.”
I rolled my eyes and flicked him on the ear before standing up. Tha proved to be unsafe when my heal hit a large object, Jake. I fell onto the couch like thing where he was sitting.
“Well hello there.” Jake smirked at me as he wrapped his arms around me as I straitened out.
“Hey” I grinned at him “What’s up?”
He put a finger on his chin and tapped it, “Nothing much, you?”
“Some old, same old” I ran my fingers threw his shaggy blond hair and braided a section. Jake went back to his conversation with Natalie.
“I’m tired,” I announced
“Then go to sleep” Jason pointed out.
I shrugged and placed my head on Jason’s lap and stretched my legs out so they were lying on top of Jake.
****
“Amii, baby get up my leg is asleep” Jason’s groggy voice entered my ears as the bright streetlights blurred my vision. I raised my head from his lap and rubbed the sand out of my tried eyes.
“We’re here!” Natalie squeaked as the van slowed to a stop in a driveway.
“Were exactly is here?” I questioned, totally confused about my surroundings.
“I called Brian when you were asleep and told hi, we were goin’ by and he said to go to his place.” Natalie explained to me.
I rose and eyebrow, “Fun, fun who’s goin’ to be there?”
She shrugged, “probably the gang and Val.
“Val?”
“Ya, Matt’s girlfriend I can’t wait to meet her, she sounds so cool from the way Matt always describes her.”
I just laughed at her excitement and ran my fingers through my hair. I pulled at one of the hair elastics around my wrist and fixed my wavy hair into a ponytail.
“Well? We going or not” Jason’s impatient voice piped up.
Jake chuckled and pulled a piece of Jason’s black and green hair.
“Ow! Jeez what was that for?”
Jake shrugged “You being you.”
Jason stuck out his tongue childishly. I swear those two can be so immature.
We opened the door and proceeded through it and to Brian’s front door. Dave knocked on the wooden door and after about half a second Brian’s smiling face was right in front of us.
“Hey guys, come in,” Brian said with a grin that stretched form ear to ear.
I peered around the corner and saw Johnny and Jimmy sitting around a coffee table with drinks and cards. The guys went to go join Jimmy and Johnny at the table. Natalie and I followed after them. We both gave Johnny and Jimmy a hug and they asked if we wanted to play poker with them. I looked at Natalie then to Johnny.
I shrugged “Sure deal me in.”
“That’s the spirit!” Jimmy laughed.
“Where’s Matt?” I asked Brian.
“He’s in the kitchen with Val.”
“I’m going to go say hi, call me when it’s my turn.” I told the guys as I rose from my position in-between Johnny and Natalie.
“I’ll go too,” Natalie added as she mirrored my actions.
We walked down the narrow hallway and went into a room we assumed to be as the kitchen. There was Matt at the counter with his back to us. He had a bottle of alcohol in one of his hands. He looked like he was making some kind of drink or something. At the table was a blond haired girl. She smiled warmly at us.
“Hi” I tried to grab Matt’s attention. He whipped around and had a surprised look plastered on his face.
“Amii?” he frowned at us.
“Ya it’s me, why the frown aren’t you happy to see us?” I was trying to push his buttons because when he is all fired up and it is quite amusing.
“No, no I just didn’t know you guys were coming.”
It was silent for a couple seconds.
“Hi, I’m Val.” The blond haired girl said to Natalie and I while shaking our hands.
“Hi, I’m Natalie and this is Amii.” Natalie introduced us and returned Val’s warm smile.
“So this is the famous Val.” I chuckled and elbowed Matt slightly in the ribs.
“Ya Matt talked a lot about you when he was in Seattle.”
“Oh_¬_” Val was interrupted by Brian’s load voice calling for us.
“Hey do you want to come play poker with us? We can talk then.” Natalie asked, being as friendly as possible.
“Ya that would be fun” she sounded a little more relaxed now
We made our way back to the living room were the guys were all waiting.
“Took you long enough” Johnny huffed as I wedged myself next to him. Val and Matt sat on the opposite side of the table so it was easy for us to talk.
“You know, since all the girls are here, how bout’ we play a round of good old fashion strip poker.” Jimmy announced with a smirk forming on him lips.
“What rules do you guys play by?” I questioned.
“You’re acting like you’ve played before Amii.” Matt asked slyly.
“Well what are the rules?” I asked impatiently.
“Ok, well you bet an article of clothing. If you don’t want to bet an article of clothing then you put in chips and take a shot of tequila.” Brian explained.
I raised an eyebrow at him.
“The shit that Syn gets is really strong,” Johnny added.
“Ok I’ll play, you two in?” I announced as Dave dealt out a hand to me.
“I’m up for it.” Val added and Dave gave her a hand.
“Well, Natalie you in or out” Brian asked her with this look in his eyes that I just could not place. Natalie must have known what it meant because he agreed to play.
“Ok socks count as two and you can use accessories. A pair of earrings counts as one.
"Ok, Ok let’s start!” I do not know why I was so excited to start; I guess I enjoyed this type of stuff.
****
About an hour later and I have managed to lose my socks, belt, and sweatshirt. In return, I now have Matt’s sunglasses, Jason’s belt, and Natalie’s choker. Val has proven to be a master at the game. In addition, she and I have a ton in common. She is cool; also, she also helps a7x with touring and things like that.
“Your bet Amii” Natalie’s voice entered my ears.
I looked at my cards and noticed that I had a straight and a double “I bet a choker and a belt.” I kept my face as straight as I could. Johnny groaned and stood up; he removed his belt (actually my belt) and took off the pair of fingerless gloves he was wearing.
Everyone matched my bet but Natalie, Jason, Dave, and Val. They all folded. It was Brian’s turn to bet. He smirked and said, “I raise you a shirt.” Brian stripped himself of his black and white shirt and threw it into the center of the table. I gave him a cold look as everyone were cheering take it off to me. I peeled off my pink and gray Hurly tee and threw it into the middle. I felt cold when I was only left in my black bra.
Johnny whistled, “Wow I’m happy you sat down next to me, Zacky’s got it good.”
I rolled my eyes at him and punched him in the arm.
“Hurry up it’s cold in here.” I said waiting for the call to show our cards.
“I think I’m going to wait a teeny bit longer till I show my cards” Jake joked as I stood up to playfully slap him alongside the head.
“Fine, read and weep suckers.” Jake laid out his cards. He had a pair. I laughed at him. Everyone else showed their cards. I looked at mine triumphantly and laid it out.
“I win losers.” I announced as they all starred at my cards. I picked up my winnings and slipped my shirt back on.
“It’s getting late, we should end this thing” Val announced and nuzzled her face into matt’s chest.
“Ya guys the queen is sleepy,” I announced while pointing to myself.
“Oh so now you’re the queen?” Jason asked.
“Yes I am so were we crashing, Steve took the van somewhere, Brian?”
“My room or here.” He answered
“I call this couch!” Jason yelled.
“I get the chair thing!” Jake exclaimed
“Well it looks like the guys get the living room.” Natalie giggled.
"So we get Brian's room." I faked excitement.
"Ya but I need a place to sleep too so your bunking with me." Brian winked.
I just rolled my eyes at him. I retrieved a pair of clothes for tomorrow and my bathroom stuff. After changing I hopped into bed and Brian insisted that he got the middle.
“No funny stuff you hear.” I said to Brian.
“Wouldn’t dream of it. You’re my best friend’s girlfriend. I’m not that low.”
“Remember that Natalie is off limits too cause she it taken too.”
“Fine, fine”
“Night all.” Natalie called out.
“Good night to you too.” I called back sleepily. I let myself snuggle up to Brian and with a warm body next to me, my eyes slowly got heavier and I drifted off into a deep sleep.
I looked up from the book I was reading to see a crumpled piece of paper come flying my way. Since my reaction time sucks, the crumpled mass hit me right on the nose.
“Who threw that?” I asked angrily. I looked at each of my band mates with a raised eyebrow. They were all sitting down looking innocent.
“He did it,” Jason piped up and pointed accusingly at Jake
.
“Loser, we had a truce.” Jake peered at Jason from his hiding place in his bunk.
“The tables have turned.”
“That’s it, you better run for your life.” Jake turned around and started to descend from the back seat.
“That’s not fair, there’s no place to run to in a tour van thing.”
“That would be your problems not mine.”
They went on about that for a while until Natalie shut them up. That is right we are on tour. We just left like yesterday. It has also been 2 weeks since Zacky has been in jail. Before I left I went and visited him, telling him about us touring and we would not be back until about a week before Christmas. He did not take it too well; he went on about us missing Halloween and Thanksgiving. I had to remind him that it was the end of September and that he would be missing Halloween any way. Also the guys went home. They were only in Seattle for a short amount of time (well 3 months is not that short but whatever.)
“Will you guys quiet down?!” Dave’s angry voice came from his bunk. Jason and Jake rolled their eyes and found a quieter way to entertain themselves. Natalie let out an exasperated sigh and placed herself next to me.
“Hey” she smiled warmly and crossed her legs.
“You feel okay?” I questioned my friend’s health because she has been trying to control the ‘two monsters’ all day.
“I don’t even know why I try. They just give me a massive headache.” I assumed that she was referring to Jason and Jake.
“Ya well, you know them”
“Ya, how much longer do we have till we reach Phoenix?”
I shrugged, “I’ll go ask Steve for you.”
She smiled in return, “Thanks.”
I made my way to the front of the bus. “Hey Steve.” I greeted him.
“Hey Amii, what’s up?” Steve was an old friend of Matt's and tour managed A7x with their first tour. Since he was currently not with a band, Matt arranged a meeting for ua and Steve has been the manager ever since.
“Just wondering how much longer till we get to Phoenix,”
He chuckled, “Well we are approaching Orange County now. So like maybe 4 hours.”
A light bulb clicked in my brain. Hey can you stop at Orange County when you get there please?”
“Sure we can spend the night, because it’s almost 11:00 now and I’m tired. Why stop there?”
“We have some friends there.”
“Cool which town?”
“Umm, Huntington Beach I think.”
I rotated my body to face three rows of seats. I let out a sigh and walked down the small hallway to Dave's bunk.
“Hey Dave” I sat myself down next to his legs. Since he had one of the bottom bunks.
“Hey” He returned groggily. He stretched out his legs and laid them on my lap.
“Ew gross, your feet stink” I plugged my nose and pushed them off of me.
Dave just laughed, “I’m assuming that I’m not going to be getting any sleep with you here.”
“That would be correct.”
“Smartass”
“Hey I heard that, you know we are pulling up near Orange County soon.”
“That’s cool.” Dave flipped onto his stomach and nuzzled his face into his pillow.
“You don’t care do you?”
“Not one bit.”
“You’re no fun”
“No I’m not, I’m actually so boring you should leave me alone and go bother someone more entertaining.”
I rolled my eyes and flicked him on the ear before standing up. Tha proved to be unsafe when my heal hit a large object, Jake. I fell onto the couch like thing where he was sitting.
“Well hello there.” Jake smirked at me as he wrapped his arms around me as I straitened out.
“Hey” I grinned at him “What’s up?”
He put a finger on his chin and tapped it, “Nothing much, you?”
“Some old, same old” I ran my fingers threw his shaggy blond hair and braided a section. Jake went back to his conversation with Natalie.
“I’m tired,” I announced
“Then go to sleep” Jason pointed out.
I shrugged and placed my head on Jason’s lap and stretched my legs out so they were lying on top of Jake.
****
“Amii, baby get up my leg is asleep” Jason’s groggy voice entered my ears as the bright streetlights blurred my vision. I raised my head from his lap and rubbed the sand out of my tried eyes.
“We’re here!” Natalie squeaked as the van slowed to a stop in a driveway.
“Were exactly is here?” I questioned, totally confused about my surroundings.
“I called Brian when you were asleep and told hi, we were goin’ by and he said to go to his place.” Natalie explained to me.
I rose and eyebrow, “Fun, fun who’s goin’ to be there?”
She shrugged, “probably the gang and Val.
“Val?”
“Ya, Matt’s girlfriend I can’t wait to meet her, she sounds so cool from the way Matt always describes her.”
I just laughed at her excitement and ran my fingers through my hair. I pulled at one of the hair elastics around my wrist and fixed my wavy hair into a ponytail.
“Well? We going or not” Jason’s impatient voice piped up.
Jake chuckled and pulled a piece of Jason’s black and green hair.
“Ow! Jeez what was that for?”
Jake shrugged “You being you.”
Jason stuck out his tongue childishly. I swear those two can be so immature.
We opened the door and proceeded through it and to Brian’s front door. Dave knocked on the wooden door and after about half a second Brian’s smiling face was right in front of us.
“Hey guys, come in,” Brian said with a grin that stretched form ear to ear.
I peered around the corner and saw Johnny and Jimmy sitting around a coffee table with drinks and cards. The guys went to go join Jimmy and Johnny at the table. Natalie and I followed after them. We both gave Johnny and Jimmy a hug and they asked if we wanted to play poker with them. I looked at Natalie then to Johnny.
I shrugged “Sure deal me in.”
“That’s the spirit!” Jimmy laughed.
“Where’s Matt?” I asked Brian.
“He’s in the kitchen with Val.”
“I’m going to go say hi, call me when it’s my turn.” I told the guys as I rose from my position in-between Johnny and Natalie.
“I’ll go too,” Natalie added as she mirrored my actions.
We walked down the narrow hallway and went into a room we assumed to be as the kitchen. There was Matt at the counter with his back to us. He had a bottle of alcohol in one of his hands. He looked like he was making some kind of drink or something. At the table was a blond haired girl. She smiled warmly at us.
“Hi” I tried to grab Matt’s attention. He whipped around and had a surprised look plastered on his face.
“Amii?” he frowned at us.
“Ya it’s me, why the frown aren’t you happy to see us?” I was trying to push his buttons because when he is all fired up and it is quite amusing.
“No, no I just didn’t know you guys were coming.”
It was silent for a couple seconds.
“Hi, I’m Val.” The blond haired girl said to Natalie and I while shaking our hands.
“Hi, I’m Natalie and this is Amii.” Natalie introduced us and returned Val’s warm smile.
“So this is the famous Val.” I chuckled and elbowed Matt slightly in the ribs.
“Ya Matt talked a lot about you when he was in Seattle.”
“Oh_¬_” Val was interrupted by Brian’s load voice calling for us.
“Hey do you want to come play poker with us? We can talk then.” Natalie asked, being as friendly as possible.
“Ya that would be fun” she sounded a little more relaxed now
We made our way back to the living room were the guys were all waiting.
“Took you long enough” Johnny huffed as I wedged myself next to him. Val and Matt sat on the opposite side of the table so it was easy for us to talk.
“You know, since all the girls are here, how bout’ we play a round of good old fashion strip poker.” Jimmy announced with a smirk forming on him lips.
“What rules do you guys play by?” I questioned.
“You’re acting like you’ve played before Amii.” Matt asked slyly.
“Well what are the rules?” I asked impatiently.
“Ok, well you bet an article of clothing. If you don’t want to bet an article of clothing then you put in chips and take a shot of tequila.” Brian explained.
I raised an eyebrow at him.
“The shit that Syn gets is really strong,” Johnny added.
“Ok I’ll play, you two in?” I announced as Dave dealt out a hand to me.
“I’m up for it.” Val added and Dave gave her a hand.
“Well, Natalie you in or out” Brian asked her with this look in his eyes that I just could not place. Natalie must have known what it meant because he agreed to play.
“Ok socks count as two and you can use accessories. A pair of earrings counts as one.
"Ok, Ok let’s start!” I do not know why I was so excited to start; I guess I enjoyed this type of stuff.
****
About an hour later and I have managed to lose my socks, belt, and sweatshirt. In return, I now have Matt’s sunglasses, Jason’s belt, and Natalie’s choker. Val has proven to be a master at the game. In addition, she and I have a ton in common. She is cool; also, she also helps a7x with touring and things like that.
“Your bet Amii” Natalie’s voice entered my ears.
I looked at my cards and noticed that I had a straight and a double “I bet a choker and a belt.” I kept my face as straight as I could. Johnny groaned and stood up; he removed his belt (actually my belt) and took off the pair of fingerless gloves he was wearing.
Everyone matched my bet but Natalie, Jason, Dave, and Val. They all folded. It was Brian’s turn to bet. He smirked and said, “I raise you a shirt.” Brian stripped himself of his black and white shirt and threw it into the center of the table. I gave him a cold look as everyone were cheering take it off to me. I peeled off my pink and gray Hurly tee and threw it into the middle. I felt cold when I was only left in my black bra.
Johnny whistled, “Wow I’m happy you sat down next to me, Zacky’s got it good.”
I rolled my eyes at him and punched him in the arm.
“Hurry up it’s cold in here.” I said waiting for the call to show our cards.
“I think I’m going to wait a teeny bit longer till I show my cards” Jake joked as I stood up to playfully slap him alongside the head.
“Fine, read and weep suckers.” Jake laid out his cards. He had a pair. I laughed at him. Everyone else showed their cards. I looked at mine triumphantly and laid it out.
“I win losers.” I announced as they all starred at my cards. I picked up my winnings and slipped my shirt back on.
“It’s getting late, we should end this thing” Val announced and nuzzled her face into matt’s chest.
“Ya guys the queen is sleepy,” I announced while pointing to myself.
“Oh so now you’re the queen?” Jason asked.
“Yes I am so were we crashing, Steve took the van somewhere, Brian?”
“My room or here.” He answered
“I call this couch!” Jason yelled.
“I get the chair thing!” Jake exclaimed
“Well it looks like the guys get the living room.” Natalie giggled.
"So we get Brian's room." I faked excitement.
"Ya but I need a place to sleep too so your bunking with me." Brian winked.
I just rolled my eyes at him. I retrieved a pair of clothes for tomorrow and my bathroom stuff. After changing I hopped into bed and Brian insisted that he got the middle.
“No funny stuff you hear.” I said to Brian.
“Wouldn’t dream of it. You’re my best friend’s girlfriend. I’m not that low.”
“Remember that Natalie is off limits too cause she it taken too.”
“Fine, fine”
“Night all.” Natalie called out.
“Good night to you too.” I called back sleepily. I let myself snuggle up to Brian and with a warm body next to me, my eyes slowly got heavier and I drifted off into a deep sleep.