Noise and Kisses

The next morning it seemed I was slipping into the same routine. I would get ready, have breakfast and other people would start waking up. Then, Nate and I would leave the bus and set up our merchandise tent. Even though sometimes the work was tiring, it was still fun watching all the different people pass by. Also, Nate and I had some good bonding time; which is always nice. It was after midday and we had already slipped out to get some lunch. Nate and I were resting under the shade of the tent; we had recently moved it under some trees for more shelter from the glaring sun.
“How did last night end up?” I asked Nate casually.
He seemed slightly uncomfortable when he answered me, “Oh yeah, it was okay.”
I knew why he was uncomfortable; he didn’t want to admit that he did anything with the girl, Amelia/Valentine, from last night. “Sure, sure,” I said jokingly, “You know I don’t mind if you hooked in with Valentine…”
He looked at me surprised, “Nah, I didn’t.”
Now it was my turn to be surprised, “Oh, really?”
He nodded awkwardly, “Yeah, well what do you expect.”
I laughed, “Yeah I suppose not all guys are like Quinn.”
Instead of laughing, Nate frowned at me, “You often say things like that.”
“What do you mean?” I questioned him.
“You slip little comments in about Quinn. What’s so great about him?”
My mouth was open slightly, “No I don’t, do I? I mean, I don’t mean to! I didn’t even know I did.”
He smirked slightly with a sour tone, “Yeah, you definitely do.”
“Okay, well I’m sorry if it ticks you off. I’ll stop.”
He shook his head, “No, don’t worry about it; it’s just me being stupid.”
There was silence for a moment until Nate continued, “Well Thalia? Do you have feelings for him?”
My eyes widened, suddenly understanding why Nate and Amelia didn’t do anything. Perhaps Nate was expecting something between him and me. Maybe he didn’t kiss Amelia because he wanted to be with me? Was he jealous of Quinn now? His tone seemed to indicate this. But perhaps I was just being egotistical, thinking that Nate was interested in me.
“I don’t know Nate. We’ve only been on Warped for a few days. I hardly know him.”
Nate rolled his eyes, “Just answer me this, do you think he’s attractive?”
I admired honesty so I replied reflecting this, “Sure, he’s attractive enough.”
Nate frowned, “And what about me?”
I laughed, “Oh Nate, come on. As I said, it’s early days, anything is possible. And yes, for the record I think you’re attractive too. But, at this moment, I just want to focus on friendships. That goes for everyone. I don’t wanna get myself stuck into something too soon.” I reached out to his hand, “Please try and understand that. Let’s just be friends for now, okay?”
He looked up, his striking green eyes meeting mine, “Whatever you want Thalia,” he smiled weakly and winked, “So there is hope for me?”
I laughed and playfully pushed him away, “Calm ya farm Nate!”
Before either of us could continue the conversation a girl interrupted us, “Excuse me, hello? I want to buy this.”
Nate jumped up to serve the girl and I was left to dwell in my thoughts. ‘How did I totally avoid those questions?! How awkward!’ Thinking to myself I sighed, ‘I definitely think that Nate is attractive, but I think the same, perhaps more, of Quinn. Quinn is exciting, and very different compared to anyone I’ve ever met. He kept me wanting more. More conversation and more games. I hope Nate doesn’t get his hopes too high. I’ll just have to stick by my rule – this early in the tour I don’t want to get into dating just yet. I’d rather just sort out my place here and then see where it takes me…’
Later that night, around 8pm, Nate and I were told that we could leave. Hazel was looking after the tent for the last few hours of the merchandise night. By around 10pm all the shows were over and all the merchandise stalls closed. So, leaving Hazel, Nate and I made our way back to the bus. I made a simple dinner out of some basic groceries we had in the bus fridge. The guys in the band were playing a late show, so it was just us. After we ate dinner, I got into my pajamas.
I giggled sitting up on the couch whilst Nate was whining about how I kicked his ass at X-Box.
“See, I told you that girls are just as good as guys as X-Box,” I laughed.
He playfully rolled his eyes, “Yeah yeah, I actually just let you win.”
“Pfft, I’ll just agree so I don’t hurt your manhood any further.”
He playfully shoved me, “Shut up!”
Suddenly, the door of the bus opened, and the smile on Nate’s face immediately vanished when he saw who it was – Quinn. I wasn’t expecting any of the band back that night because I heard they were invited to a party consisting of a few select bands. I didn’t think that Quinn would turn down any parties. I wondered what was wrong.
A big grin was displayed on his face, “Why hello, Thalia,” he said nodding in my direction with a mischievous look, “And, Nate of course,” he said turning to Nate and nodding at him. “What are you two up to?” he asked with an eyebrow raised.
“Not much,” I said casually.
He chuckled, “Good, because Thalia I believe we have a date?”
Nate stood up and frowned down at me, “So much for being friends first.” Before I had a chance to explain that Quinn was just kidding around, or just referring back to something from the night before, Nate continued walking and crossed over into the sleeping section of the bus.
Quinn laughed, “Well someone has PMS! Come on Thalia, get out of your PJ’s, I’m taking you out.”
I spluttered, “What do you mean? You said that on purpose so Nate would get pissed off. We don’t have a date at all.”
“Oh, so nothing that I said to you last night meant anything? I wasn’t kidding. Tonight I’m kissing you, remember?” Quinn had a playful tone and his eyes were alight.
I rolled my eyes, “Christ Quinn. I have to deal with Nate right now, thanks.”
Quinn pretended to be dramatic and raised a hand to his forehead and made a high-pitched ‘damsel in distress’ noise. Throwing himself down onto the couch he huffed, “Fine, but were going in five minutes.” He gestured with his hand to me, “Now, go tell him what a special little boy he is and that we were just having a joke.”
I rolled my eyes and muttered profanities at Quinn and his asshole-ness.
I knocked on the door and waited for a reply, but of course Nate remained silent. So I decided to walk in.
“What do you want Thalia? You completely bullshitted earlier today. Pretending that you just wanted to be friends, but secretly you’re going out with Quinn already? Fucking hell, and I really just ate that up out of your hand, thinking, wow this girl is really genuine, you know? She doesn’t want to screw with anyone.”
I frowned, “Nate. Quinn was just being a dickhead. We’re not dating at all. Everything I said to you this afternoon is true – I don’t want to date anyone. So before you continue insulting me, give me a god damn chance.”
He sighed, obviously processing what I had said, “What do you mean he was being a dickhead?”
“I don’t know. You know Quinn, he just says things to embarrass and annoy people. After you walked away he just meant that he wanted to show me something. It’s nothing special. Probably just a friendly dinner. He was just trying to get to you.”
Nate looked at me, “Fine, I’m sorry then. Go on out with him, I’m just gonna go to sleep anyway.”
I bit my lip, “Alright then. Goodnight Nate.”
I grabbed some clothes from out of my bag and whilst Nate was falling off to sleep, I quickly slipped them on. I walked out again and Quinn was already outside of the bus.
He grinned when I stepped out of the bus, “good, finally,” he said.
I rolled my eyes, “you could at least say sorry to him when you get back. Stop annoying people,” I frowned.
He ignored me completely, “You look nice.”
I smiled, “Thanks. But what are we doing? After all that fuss you pulled on me before I don’t really feel like going out with you. Sometimes you are a real pain you know?”
He laughed, “Sometimes?”
“Mm.”
“Oh come on, don’t be mad. If it really bothers you I’ll go say something to Nate now,” he said.
“Fine,” I crossed my arms. “Go on, I’ll wait here.”
Quinn jogged back a few meters to the bus. After a few minutes he came back at with a grin saying, “Alright, let’s get going or it will be too late for our date.”
“It’s not a real date Quinn,” I said.
“We’ll see.” Laughing, he grabbed my hand and pulled me along so that we were now on the main road. I smiled to myself, liking the way Quinn made me feel inside.
“This is it,” he said.
“What?” I asked confused.
“This diner, it’s really great.”
I smiled looking around the place. It was a classic local diner, with a hint of 1950’s inspiration. It had milkshakes and burgers and big red booths with checkered tiles for the floor.
“It’s so cute. It’s like a vintage diner.”
He nodded, “Yeah. All the girls like Audrey, and Hannah Beth, and stuff always get their lunch here.”
I raised my eyebrows thinking that perhaps Micheline hung out here too. I should come here soon and see.
“I heard that you know them?” I said to Quinn.
He smirked, “Yes, we have our history. Especially Jeph. He gets along quite well with Audrey, if you know what I mean.”
Whilst we ordered our food the conversation kept flowing easily. He wanted to know about my family, friends, job and general life. In turn, I asked him certain questions too.
“So, basically I’ve lived in Utah my whole life,” he said, “That’s why I’m so glad and lucky that I am able to tour and get away from it now and then,” he finished telling me his stories of growing up and about his family.
“You’re also lucky that you have a sister, I’ve always wanted one.”
He laughed, “Yeah, we’re pretty close. She would like you.”
I smiled, “Sounds like I’d like her too.”
“So, I’m going to have to find Matt soon and meet him. You know, seeing as I’ll be your boyfriend soon.”
I rolled my eyes, “Christ Quinn, I can never tell with you. Either you’re really sure of yourself, or you’ve got a weird sense of humour”
He laughed, “But it’s fun right? Never really knowing what the person truly means?”
I rolled my eyes, “Not really.”
His eyes were serious even though he was grinning at me, “But seriously Thalia, I wanna meet Matt.”
I shrugged, “Fine, if you really insist, I’ll introduce you.”
“I do,” he said.
“So where do you live?” he asked.
“Well, I’ve moved around my whole life really. My Dad’s job made us move like every 2 years. I’ve lived mainly on the West Coast of California. The longest places were like LA, San Diego, San Francisco and I lived in Chicago for a couple of years. I remember when I was around 10 years old we had to live in Nevada for like 18 months but my mother absolutely hated it so we moved basically straight away. So after we lived in Chicago we moved more North and my parents now live in Oregon. Me and Matt share an apartment together in LA but were thinking of moving sometime soon.”
Quinn was really listening to me, “Wow, that must have been pretty tough moving around heaps,” he said.
I shrugged again and picked up a chip off my plate, “Sure, sometimes it was. But on the other hand it wasn’t like I had to stay in the same school or suburb all the time, so I never had any trouble with getting picked on or anything. I think that’s why my brother and I are so tight, because we had to become best friends. I never had a chance to grow close to anyone except him over my time in high school.”
He nodded, “Yeah, well that was the opposite for me. Brandon and I were so close in high school. We always looked out for each other. Other guys would sometimes give us shit, which is probably why we stuck together,” he continued on but changed his expression to more playful, “but of course, it was mainly me rescuing Brandon.”
I laughed, “Naturally.”
“I love your laugh Thalia,” Quinn blurted this out, looking down at his veggie burger.
I was glad because he wasn’t looking at my face, so he wouldn’t know that I was blushing, “thank you,” I murmured.
He looked up at me, “Are you ready to get out of here?”
I nodded as he pulled me out of the booth with him. I noticed that he looked extremely presentable tonight. He had black pants and a shirt on with a black casual button up T-shirt thrown over the top.
“Hey, you look nice by the way,” I said.
He ran his hand threw his hair, sweeping his fringe back, “Of course I do,” he said loudly. Together, we laughed. His hands slipped around my waist as we walked out of the door again. There was a stream of traffic on the main road and the night air was blowing gently; swaying my hair around my face.
“It’s nice to smell the fresh air after playing a sweaty show all day,” he said breathing deeply.
I looked up at him; he was slightly taller than me. There was a slight break in the traffic, but not big enough that I felt comfortable J-walking. But, Quinn yelled and grabbed at my waist, making me run along the busy road with him.
He was laughing, “Quick Thalia or you’ll get splattered on to the road!”
He reached the other side of the road slightly before me, but didn’t stop running. Turning back to me he called out, “I bet you can’t catch me!”
He was jogging slowly away from me but was only about 3 or 4 meters ahead of me.
“You’re right,” I agreed, “I do have heels on right now.”
He joked playfully, “Oh come, don’t be a pussy,” he winked at me.
I rolled my eyes, pretending that I couldn’t run very fast. I tottered on my heels slowly and he laughed at me. All of a sudden, I started running the best I could, and it shocked Quinn. I easily caught up to him at my normal pace, and my body slammed into his. It obviously surprised him how fast I could suddenly run, because he fell over and together we landed in the grass; me on top of him.
I shrieked and laughed, “I’m sorry!” I noticed his hands were still wrapped around my waist and my breathing suddenly got heavier.
His breath was ragged too, “its fine, but you tricked me though didn’t you?”
I nodded, “You’re not the only one that can play games,” I returned his wink from before.
He laughed, “l wouldn’t have expected that from you.”
“What? You think that I was actually gonna give up because of my shoes. I’m more competitive than that.”
He raised his eyebrows, I was still lying on top of him at this point, “I don’t doubt that.”
Realizing that I was still on top of him I flushed softly. But I decided to be bold, “So, are you going to kiss me?”
He was shocked, for once, and spluttered, “What?”
I laughed, feeling brave, “Well, last night you said that you were. So come on, get it over with,” I said biting my lip and moving my head slightly closer to his.
He gently pushed me back and whispered, “No.”
I was shocked, “W-what?”
He frowned, “It’s not that I don’t want to. But I don’t want it to be like that.”
“Be like what?” I asked, “What? You want it over a candle lit dinner or something? Quinn, I thought I was the girl here.”
He snickered, “No. It’s just that…well, I like you. So I don’t want you to think that this is just a game. And I don’t want this to be forced.”
I bit my lip again, like I usually do when I thought or was feeling nervous, “Well, what if I want to kiss you? Then it’s not forced,” I said slowly.
He smirked, “So you do like me?”
I nodded, “Maybe.”
He laughed and pushed me off him, so now we lay side by side, on our backs. We looked up at the stars as we continued talking.
I continued my argument, “So, come on kiss me.”
Quinn replied, slightly husky, “I want the moment to be right. I want to know you more,”
I muttered, “You’re such a girl.”
He snickered in return, “Yeah, well you’re such a boy.”
Changing the subject I breathed, “This is nice, under the stars.”
“This is what I love most about touring. You see all different scenes. Think about it; in the day time you see the business of the day, it’s hot and people are doing their jobs. But then at night, the world can be anything. Sometimes there are parties, sometimes you just chill with friends around the fire, or you can go out, or you can stay in the bus. Most of all, you can just relax and watch the world go by. There’s nothing like this feeling. It’s like, you’re alone but with people at the same time, you know?”
I sighed, “I know exactly what you mean, and it’s so bizarre. It’s like, the world is spinning away, and even though you’re in it or watching it, you’re still somehow out of synch.”
He looked at me and propped himself up on one elbow. Quickly, I could hardly even notice it; he leaned in and gently kissed my lips. It was sweet and innocent, no open lips or anything. A sweet peck. Then, he sighed happily and lay back on his back. There was a thud when he lay back onto the grass. We lay under the stars for a few more minutes; hand in hand.