A Cherry Sunset

I hummed along with my iPod as I tossed the dirty dishes into the sink. We had arrived at the next venue early and since I was so restless, I had decided to finally clean up the filthy bus. The boys had left to stumble around town and find food, as always. I was working on the kitchen when I noticed there was another sound that was interfering with my headphones.

I let my headphones fall to my neck as I looked around the bus, trying to find where the noise was coming from. Eventually, I found my phone in Matt’s bunk, ringing constantly. I ignored the peculiar place I found my phone and immediately answered.

“Hey Oli!” I chirped, trying to pull off a calm façade. Completely useless fail.

“Emileh? Wha’s goin’ on?” His tone was automatically protective. I sighed, knowing it was no use trying to hide anything.

“Nothing, love. I’m just feeling a little down today, is all. I’ll be fine. How are you doing?” I did try to subtly change the subject.

“Wha’s wrong? Did somethin’ ‘appen?” Yeah, he was definitely not going to let me subtly change anything.

I frowned as I leaned against the sink. “It’s fine, Oliver. I just,” I paused and tried to word it the right way. “It’s just one of those days where I don’t want to be here.”

I was surprised when he chuckled. “Where do yeh want teh be then, love?”

“I don’t even fucking know. Just not here.” I ran my hand through hair and tousled it a bit. Truth was, I wanted to be where Oliver was. I wanted to be in London, preferably in bed, snuggled into his pillow.

“Well, I jus’ may ‘ave somethin’ teh distract yeh from tha’, if yeh interested.”

My pulse raced as I imagined his lips on mine. It had been far too since I’d actually been able to feel them against my skin. I forced the thoughts away and cleared my throat. “What, uh, what did you have in mind?”

His chuckle sounded deeper this time, probably cause he knew exactly where my thoughts had been. “I want yeh teh design somethin’ fer Drop Dead.”

I got flustered all over again. “My drawings aren’t that good, Oli.”

“Don’t second guess yourself, love. Yeh’re brillian’ an’ talented. ‘Sides, yeh sound like yeh need a distraction.”

I bit my lip to keep my thoughts inside my mind, but it was God awful difficult. I would much prefer my distraction be in the form of your body. I cleared my throat. “Y-yeah. You’re right. Was there, um, anything in specific you wanted for the design?”

“I trust yeh, love. Wha’ eveh yeh feel like drawin’ is fine.” I rolled my eyes.

“I have to have at least something to run with.”

“’S a shirt design; make somethin’ yeh’d like teh wear.” I could just hear him grinning on the other end.

“You are so unhelpful, you know?”

“I love yeh, Emileh.”

My stomach erupted in butterflies. Even though I’d heard him say it so often since the first time, I still got light headed and giddy. “I love you too, Oliver. I miss you too. You know there’s only a week and a half of tour left.”

“Countin’ it down alreadeh?”

“I am unashamed that I certainly am.”

“I am too.” He laughed and I joined him. “Yeh comin’ back teh England righ’ afteh tour?”

“I’ve got to stop by New York, just to turn in the records and everything from the tour, but I’m coming. I don’t even think there’s a day in between the two flights.”

“Good. Dee’s alreadeh plannin’ a parteh fer when yeh get back.”

“I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised.”

“There’s also some mates of ours comin’ tha’ yeh ‘aven’t met yet. Yeh’ll love ‘em.” He was chuckling again, making me slightly suspicious of his ‘mates’.

“It all sounds fun. I can’t wait to come back.”

“I can’t wait teh ‘ave yeh back, Emmeh. Onleh two weeks, yeah?”

“One and a half.” I corrected and grinned. “Then you’ll get to see my new wicked tattoo.”

“It did come out amazin’, didn’t it?”

“Very much so.” I glanced down at my feet. The swollenness was gone as was most of the redness from the fresh ink. “It should be all healed by the time I make it there too.”

“I’ll let yeh go back teh yeh merch then and I’ll see yeh soon, love.”

I hated that our conversation was already ended, but truly I did need to finish cleaning before setting up the merch tent. “All right. Be safe over there.”

“Always, an’ Emileh?”

“Yes?”

“Don’t fall fer any charmin’ ‘Merican lad, yeah?”

I closed my eyes and imagined him as he was at the end of tour. His messy hair, his stumble, and his sad smirk were all picture perfect in my mind. “As long as you promise not to hit on any cute British girls.”

“Promise.”

“Goodbye Oliver.”

“’Ave a good day, Emileh.”

The phone clicked and I slowly sat it down on the counter. That boy had me twisted more than I’d ever thought possible. My chest ached for him again, but I didn’t let myself become overwhelmed by it. Instead, I thought about his offer, the design for one of the shirts in his clothing line.

I thought about it the entire time I cleaned the rest of the bus. Even while the boys were back, I was still mostly just trying to draw the design out in my mind. It wasn’t until that evening, after everything had been packed up again and we were back on the road, that I got to sit down with my sketch pad.

Alan sat in the back lounge with me. He was watching the television with my feet in his lap as I concentrated hard on the paper in front of me. I found it completely sweet how he looked out for me, more so recently since our talk and my breakdown. I noticed him glancing over at me every few seconds before he finally said something.

“What are you working on?”

I looked up, finding him staring at the television as if he was actually paying attention to it. I smiled and shrugged. “I’m not sure yet.”

He laughed. “Another tattoo perhaps?”

“No; this is actually for Oliver. He asked me to draw something up for Drop Dead. Only problem being that he didn’t give me anything to draw.”

“Isn’t that every artists dream?” He arched his eyebrows and finally turned his vision toward me questionably. “Free reign?”

I shrugged again. “I’m not exactly an artist.” He snorted.

“Emily, you’re a fucking fantastic artist.”

“Am not.” I muttered under my breath and dropped my chin, making my hair fall into my face as I kept my eyes on the blank paper before me.

“Why do you think Oliver asked you to design something?”

Unfortunately I didn’t have a comment for that one.

“Exactly.” He grinned smugly and then turned back to the television. “You’re so good, in fact, that if you wanted you could actually quit Skelanimals and get a job designing for some company.”

My head popped up as I looked at him. “I’m not that good.” I fought still, not even trying to wrap my head around having a job where I simply just drew when I felt like it.

Alan turned to me one more time, his face blank and serious with his eyes wide. “Yes, you are.” The way he said it made me uneasy. His eyes said the same thing, I was good and that was that. I gave him a small smile before going back to attempting a design for Oliver. My head still slightly scattered at his argument.