The Way It Played Out

After a few months of Bill and I happily living together, we found out we’d be touring with Fall Out Boy and Panic! At The Disco again. I say ‘we’ because I was the designated TAI merch girl now.
“It sucks we can’t do this on tour.” Bill said quietly, the two of us laying in bed together. He had one arm wrapped around my waist, and I had thrown one of my arms over his slim chest.
“Yeah.” I agreed. “At least we can do this, sometimes.” I grinned wickedly, then kissed him, which lead to a very long morning together.

When it was finally time to leave, we were waiting for the bus full of our boys to pick us up outside Bill’s apartment building. We boarded the bus and were tackled by the boys we’d just seen yesterday, then drove off, looking forward to being tackled by guys we hadn’t seen since last summer.
“Yes! They kept you!” Bden yelled, tackling me in a giant hug, soon joined by Ryan and Joe.
“of course we kept her-she lives with Bill, now.” Mike grinned.
“Oh?” Pete asked, raising his eyebrows.
“Yeah, my folks finally kicked me out, and I had nowhere to go.” I grinned bashfully, ruffling my hair. “Now I’m being held hostage by a guy who’s skinnier than I am.”

A few days later, I was sitting in a rare window seat at a venue with my sketchpad, a small photo paper clipped in one corner.
“Whatchya doin’?” Pete asked, walking up behind me and almost making me jump out of my skin. “Can I see?”
“Sure.” I said, slowly handing over my pad. I was a little shy about my art, but I had to be ok with handing it out if I ever wanted to see it in a gallery one day.
Pete studied my sketch-in-progress, then the photo in the corner, then the sketch. It was a picture of Bill onstage, his eyes closed as he sang his heart out, with Sisky and Mike off to the side standing back-to-back as they played.
“You’re really, really good.” Pete said, handing it back.
“Thanks.” I mumbled, blushing and ruffling my hair.
“Do you sketch a lot?” he asked, sitting down on the opposite end of the seat, so I was looking at him over my knees.
“Yeah.” I admitted slowly.

Pete gave me a hopeful look, and I sighed, handing over my sketchbook. I usually didn’t let anyone look- Bill had seen some of them, but not all.
Pete grinned at me, then started flipping through the pad, taking in the sketches. Some I’d left black and white, some had a little dash of faded colors to make them seem like aged photos, others were full-on color.
“Hey, that’s us.” Pete grinned, and I looked at the sketch he’d flipped to; Fall Out Boy onstage during one of their shows.
“This one’s better.” I said, flipping a few pages until I found one of Pete and Joe back-to-back, grinning like idiots as they played. “I love Joe’s face in this one.”
“Yeah, he does weird shit like that.” Pete mused, grinning. He kept flipping through, past Cobra Starship and Panic! At The Disco pictures, pictures of hanging out during the last tour, back to before I met Pete.
There were the guys onstage at their first gig, their first rehearsal, just goofing off, Bill hanging out the window of our tree house.
One sketch was Bill sitting on his bed, studying his acoustic guitar intensely as he wrote a song. I’d left that on black and white.
My favorite sketch was the first one, and the only one that included me.
Bill and I had gone into a photo booth and squished together, hugging each other as we grinned at the lens. We looked so happy.
I’d done the entire strip, all four photos, making them larger in my sketch. The funny faces we made, the one we actually hugged and grinned for, the one where we’d given each other bunny ears, and the one where he’d kissed my cheek.
“Aww, that’s cute.” Pete said, sincere for once.
“Bill’s a sweetheart.” I agreed, staring at the photo. “We’ve been best friends literally forever. Our moms knew each other in high school, and had us playing together as soon as I was born.” I grinned, still staring at the book.
“How far apart are you guys, age-wise?” Pete asked.
“A month.” I grinned at him. “I’m the baby out of all the guys, and they treat me like I’m their little sister.” I rolled my eyes. “It’s great, until I meet someone I want to date.” I laughed.
Pete laughed with me. “Bet they wouldn’t mind if you dated one of them.” He remarked, watching my reaction carefully.

I made a face. “Please. I love the guys, but not like that.”
Pete regarded me for a moment, his eyes flickering to the open sketchbook, then nodded. I could tell he’d be watching me now.
After Pete walked away, I sighed, looking down at the traitorous sketch. I was a little too good at capturing the emotions there- the laughter in Bill’s eyes, my shy smile and slight blush, and the happiness in my own eyes.

A month into tour, Bill stormed onto the bus and fell onto the couch I was already sitting on, his head falling in my lap.
“Dude, you are so lucky my phone’s in my other pocket.” I grinned at him, but he just rolled his eyes. “Aww, what’s wrong?” I asked.
“The stupid freaking tabloids.” Bill growled.
“They suck.” Pete agreed, kicking back in his chair as Bden and Joe went back to building their house of cards, which Mike and Sisky were taking turns blowing down. “What’d they say this time?”
“They keep prattling on about secret girlfriends of mine and shit, how I’ve got a ton of secret relationships and I cheat on all of them.” Bill said, running his hand through his hair.
“Aww, that’s stupid.” I said sympathetically, and Bill grinned at me until I added, “They should know you suck at keeping secrets.”
“Why are you my best friend?” Bill asked as the other guys snickered.
“Because you love me.” I said innocently.
“The tabloids will be the tabloids.” Pete shrugged. “Learn to laugh at them.”
“That won’t stop what they say.” Bill muttered mutinously.
“No, but getting hitched might.” I teased.

Bill blinked at me like he’d never seen me before.
“That’s brilliant.”
What the fuck?

||I’m not in love, this is not your song. I’m not gonna waste these words about a girl||