Confessions of a Road Warrior

Flying was probably my least favorite part of touring. Well, minus being away from Abbi. I never quite got the part where I had to trust the fact that a giant piece of metal like substance could keep itself in the air when I couldn’t fly by flapping my wings. I was certain I weighed less than a jumbo jet and yet I was not at all able to fly like the planes we rode. But, every tour, I managed to convince myself I wouldn’t die and board the very planes I dreaded.

“What do you think tour’ll be like?” Jared asked grabbing a seat by me. I looked over at him and shrugged. I didn’t really need to tell him what it would be like. It would be like most tours. I wouldn’t get sleep and I wouldn’t be happy showering in the same vicinity as twenty other guys. I shrugged and tried to get comfortable before takeoff. “Nervous?”

“Is it that fucking obvious?”

“Why don’t you take out some pictures and look at those? It always helps me when I get nervous about something. That and it’s nice to see a loved one’s face when you think you can’t do something,” he suggested softly.

“We’ve been touring since before Abbi and I started dating. I’ve lived through four maybe five tours being her boyfriend. Why is it always so hard? It never gets easier. In fact, it feels like it gets harder,” I complained. I took his advice though and pulled out a picture of Abbi and I. She was smiling, her head turned towards the sun rise while I tried not to fall off the edge we were standing on. It was one of my favorites because we were both so young.

“Because,” Jared said after a few seconds of thought, “you love her more now than you did when you started dating. The more love for her and for your relationship that you have the harder it is to leave it.”

Leave it to Jared to be mister philosophical about everything. I shook my head and leaned it into the head rest. It didn’t take very long before the plane was speeding down the runway and we were flying far across the country to the great state of Maryland to meet up with the start of tour.

&&

By the time I got off the plane I was ready to be at the hotel and asleep. It was strange to say but even flying, something that required no physical activity exhausted me to no end. I flipped out my phone to give Abbi her must desired call to find five missed calls already waiting in my log. Two were from my mother, probably wondering if we’d landed. One call was from Trey no doubt asking a question about feeding my dog and the other two came from an unknown number. It didn’t matter though, I dialed the familiar number and waited for her to pick up.

“Hey, how was the flight?”

“Honestly, it sucked. I hate flying, have I told you that? What are you up to? Having fun with Rogan?”

“She says hi. God, I just can’t wait to come see you. Ro and I have decided today is a shopping day, and by Ro and I, I really mean Rory. I’m not so sure I want to go shopping though, I’d rather wear something I feel comfortable in that still looks nice than something new.” she admitted softly.

“Whatever you wear it’ll look beautiful in it. So listen, we’re staying in a hotel for the next few days, pre production and all. What say you and I have a little one on one time tomorrow evening via skype?”

“Yea, I could definitely handle that.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Why would something be wrong?”

I smiled, “I know you Abbi. Your voice is off, what’s wrong?”

“Gar, you just left for seven weeks. I’m lonely, that’s what’s wrong.”

“I know baby. You’ll see me in a few weeks. And then I’ll be home for months tons and tons of months. These seven weeks are going to fly. Don’t you worry babe, I’ll see you sooner than you think. I promise,” I said with conviction. I knew it was hard when we were apart but we survived.

“I know. So, I was thinking when we come out in a few weeks…shit Rogan’s burning something. Love you, bye!”

I didn’t even get to say goodbye. She hung up and I was alone.

The best part about tour was even when I was alone missing Abbi, I wasn’t ever alone. There was always someone to hang out with. And, seeing as we’d just arrived, we also had places to be. It didn’t take long for John to come find me so we could go rehearse and get back here for bed.

It was long told that of all the band members I was the one that needed their sleep the most. And I won’t lie, that is completely true. I like sleep; it was my best friend on tour. I hated when I wasn’t rested up because to me that just made the show worse even if it went off well. So rehearsal and then bed was much better than no sleep at all.

“So, anyone ever heard of Moments?” Kennedy asked as we piled into the rental we’d be using until we got our bus. I shook my head, I hadn’t bothered listening to them before coming on tour but I figured they would sound good since they were touring.

“I listened to a few songs. They sound alright, remind me a lot of Versa. Very rough around the edges I like it,” Pat said with a smile.

“So it’s All Time, Moments and Versa this tour right?” I questioned just making sure I hadn’t lost anything in my sleep mode.

“Fuck yea,” Jared said.

The rest of the ride was spent with Jared and Kenny going over different parts they wanted to work up and fix for the shows. John, Pat and I fell into our usual conversation of what tour would be like and, as usual, the rest of the van joined in once Kenny and Jared were finished with their conversation. It didn’t take long to get to the rehearsal space. It took longer to get the first band set up for sound check.

Moments turned out to be a woman fronted and backed band. Their vocalist was female and their drummer was female. Don’t call me sexist or anything both girls had it going on during their check. It was pretty crazy to think that so much power came from someone as small as they both appeared to be.

“Garrett, come on, we’re up after Versa,” Pat called. In all the joy of sitting and listening to Moments I guess I’d zoned out. I laughed and hopped up to follow the rest of the band.

I gave a nod to Moments as I passed but that didn’t seem to be enough for one. She stepped in front of me her blonde hair chopped short framing her thin face. She smiled and when doing so let her blue eyes light up. I stopped short so as not to walk over her, literally.

“Hi,” she said determinedly, “I’m Charli.”

I knew right then that this tour was going to be the death of me.