Tour Stories

"That's a hot outfit, Zach."

He put one hand on his hip, and jutted it out, "Isn't it?"

I rolled my eyes at him, "Did you get dressed in the closet?"

He huffed, "No."

We walked out the tour bus together to go to the dollar store down the street from the venue. Zach let his fingers slip between mine as we walked. I lightly swung my arm back and forth. I looked out of the corner of my eye to see Zach with his eyes closed, absorbing the sunshine and smiling big. I grinned and suddenly leaned in and placed my hand on his jaw, turning his head to me. I kissed him and then leaned back. His eyes flickered open, continuing to smile he leaned back in and we kissed again. Then I tugged him into the dollar store.

I went to the back when Zach was checking out some books they had set up in the front. I was looking for snacks because the guys depleted us of our stash. I was filling my little basket up with chips and pretzels. Before looking for Bugles I glanced up through the curtain of my hair and watched Zach. He had moved from the books to the hygiene section. He was getting new razor blades. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other uncomfortably, then looked up. He looked to his right and leaned back, then looked at the razors. Slowly he raised his head and looked to his left in the direction where I was standing. After seeing me watching him he waved frantically at me. I laughed then looked back at the snacks.

"What are we looking for?" Zach said standing so close to me that are arms were touching completely.

"Bugles..." I was intensely searching.

He raised his arm up and knocked a bag down, I quickly caught it and saw it was my Bugles. I was about to say, "Thanks," but Zach was already mumbling to himself.

"You're so short."

We walked to the counter and paid for our things. Then we raced back to the bus. He won, so I blamed it on my short legs. We put away our dollar store finds and went to go sit on the couch. Nathan walked in and I ran up to hug him.

“Hey, my little ray of sunshine,” he beamed.

I noticed Zach roll his eyes, which was weird. He sometimes got like that when Nathan and I were together but I always ignored it because I didn’t want to start anything. Zach and I are both very passionate so when we get angry things can escalate from 0 to 100 in a second. That’s why we both normally walk away from the things that piss us off, we hate that surge of anger because it’s not who we are.

“I found a neat little coffee shop a little way off you want to come?” Nathan continued.

I hummed and looked over my shoulder, Zach had his face in a twist and was watching TV attempting to ignore the world. “Maybe later Nate, Zach and I were going to watch a movie.”

Zach’s face calmed a little but not completely. Nate had noticed the whole thing and knew Zach well enough to back down. “Okay, but I’m holding you to that,” he smiled.

Once he had disappeared down the hall I went back and snuggled next to Zach.

“You didn’t have to do that you know,” he said after a while.

“Do what?”

“Pretend that you didn’t really want to go to spend time with me.”

“I wasn’t pretending, I still want to go just not now.”

“Yeah okay,” he rolled his eyes, and not in the playful way.

I pushed away from him, “What is up with you?!”

“Nothing’s up! Just don’t pretend that you want to spend time with me when you really want to hang out with Nathan!”

“Zachary David, are you fucking crazy? Seriously, you must be mental to think that I don’t want to hang out with you. I love you so fucking much, and you know that.”

He crossed his arms and slumped down. Michael had come in because of the yelling, “What the hell is going on with you two?”

“He’s jealously is besting him.”

Mikey bit his bottom lip and thought, “Well, Erica, do you want to pick up some pizza with me? Cameron wants Hawaiian, I want plain and I know Zach probably does too, and Nathan wants pepperoni. I need you to help me make a decision.”

“Well, I want pepperoni-”

“Oh yeah of course you do,” Zach muttered.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” I yelled as I spun around to face him.

“No! I’m not! You like Nathan more than me! You wish you were dating him instead of me! Admit it!”

I swallowed back tears, “Zach, I can’t do this right now. The fact you think that I don’t love you is too much. Nathan is one of my best friends, he’s one of yours too! What the fuck!”

Nathan walked in, he had to have heard all that was going on. I had grabbed Mikey’s hand and started to pull toward the door when Nathan took my other hand and we left. Zach started screaming about how I should just be going out with Nathan and other things that Mikey and Nathan wouldn’t let me hear.

“Come on, baby girl, let’s get you some tea,” Mikey said. At this point I was weeping and while Nathan got Mikey coffee and himself and I some tea I was wrapped in Mikey’s arms. “Come on, you know that he loves you. Your love for each other could change the whole world. He’s just an idiot sometimes, he can’t help it. He can be a stubborn asshole, but then again, who isn’t. You love him and he loves you, this is just a rough patch. He’s not the easiest person to be with, you of all people should know that. He just never feels good enough, it’s the perfectionist in him. Most of all he doesn’t feel good enough for you.” Nathan had come back at this point with out hot beverages. Mikey had him hold me and took a sip of his coffee before continuing, “Zach sees the way you two act with each other. You both love each other so much because you’re best friends. Zach doesn’t see it that way. He thinks that you Nathan would be a much better match for Erica. But let’s be real, the only perfect match for Erica is Zach.”

Nathan rubbed my back and urged me to drink some of my green tea. No one spoke again until we finished and went to the pizzeria. We got a half Hawaiian and half pepperoni and two full plain pies. We went back to the bus and Zach was sitting by the little table facing the door. His laptop was open and from his expression I knew he was talking lyrics through email with Jayce or someone. He looked up and gave an expression only I could pick up on. Only I could see the tears in his eyes. I ran to him and threw myself into his lap. Our arms were soon wrapped around each other and soft “I love you”s were exchanged.

I got up and kissed him, “Never again will you doubt my love,” I stuck my pinkie up, “okay?”

He grinned and linked his pinkie with mine, “Okay.”