Noise and Kisses

The next morning I made breakfast for everyone to thank them for their concern about Jimmy. We decided to eat outside; the weather was beautiful with a perfect blue sky. I wasn’t too hungry so while everyone else ate their pancakes, I sat next to them smoking.
Quinn planted himself me, “Guess what?”
“What?” I said.
“Smoking kills.”
I laughed, “So does being an idiot.”
He pouted at me, “Ouch Thal.” I loved the way we played around together. It made me so excited…oh God, it was far too early in the morning to be feeling turned on.
Quinn interrupted my thoughts, “You have to kiss me, to make it better.”
I leant over and kissed his soft lips, “Better?”
He grinned and began eating his stack of pancakes.
Hazel, who was sitting on the other side of me, nudged my arm. “So, looks like you finally admitted your feelings, hey?” she whispered.
I whispered back, “I guess so. Quinn said to just do what feels right in the moment.”
She squealed, “That’s soooo cute!”
Realizing that everyone would have witnessed me kissing Quinn, I looked up at Nate. I was worried he would be mad at me again. To my surprise, he was smiling at me.
After breakfast, I took him aside.
“Hey Nate..”
He smiled, “Thal, it’s fine. I knew that you guys would probably get together. I don’t blame you, your personalities are well suited.”
I sighed in relief, “Thanks for understanding. But we’re still friends, okay Nate?”
“Of course! Don’t doubt it,” he assured me.
That afternoon instead of merch selling, we were all told by The Used’s manager, John Feldman, that he had organized an interview with MTV. The interesting part was that MTV also wanted to interview the Merch people; to hear what the band was like behind the scenes. I was so nervous but John prepped us before the interviews began.
“It will be fine. Just don’t say anything negative about The Used and don’t give too many personal details away,” John instructed.
Hazel, Nate and I nodded. We had to wait and watch everyone else’s interview before it was the Merch interviews began. Quinn was the last one to be interviewed. I was really excited to see him in the spotlight. He looked so cute and excited.
The interviewer sat in her chair and smiled at Quinn, “So Quinn this is your second Warped Tour, is it as good as last time?”
Quinn nodded, “Definitely. It is even better! We love seeing our fans and we love playing this album. Warped Tour is always a great experience.”
“Have there been any hectic or memorable moments made already?” asked the interviewer.
“Well there have been a lot of crazy parties. And a lot of drinking! But ,ostly we’ve just been hanging out with our awesome Merch people and doing stuff with them.”
The interviewer nodded politely, “Okay, well this is a question from a fan. It’s been our most popular question. Everyone wants to know, are you dating anyone or are you single?”
Quinn tousled his hair nervously and looked at John Feldman who was standing behind the camera. I held my breath, waiting to hear his answer.
“Umm, nope there’s no one. I’m definitely single,” he said into the camera.
I frowned. My stomach dropped. My hands began to sweat. Why would he say that? He was so explicit with me…he said he liked me. We had been hanging out non-stop. How could I have misread our relationship? This was utterly embarrassing.
I heard Hazel gasp next to me, “What?” She patted my shoulder, “He must be kidding Thalia!”
The relationship monster inside me reared up; if he wanted to screw me over I’d dish it right back.
It was our turn for the interview now. We were all asked a few generic questions about our experience, our workload, and what it was like living with The Used. Hazel was definitely enjoyed being able to vent her excitement. Bert was standing behind the camera laughing and blowing kisses to her. Meanwhile, I sat there still upset.
But the interviewer brought me out of my thoughts, “So Thalia, how do you find it living with the Used?”
“Well they are such nice guys and of course, very talented. It’s awesome to witness them practicing and kidding around,” I replied politely, remembering John Feldman’s warning.
“And has it been difficult handling the fans?” she asked.
“Not really. It is always a pleasure to see young people enjoying Warped Tour. Merch people take this job on because they want to see bands and their fans.”
Another question from her, “And are you single at the moment Thalia? Are you in love with The Used like Hazel is?” She chuckled.
This was a question that could make me say bad things. Oh and boy was I mad with Quinn. John’s warning went out the window.
“Um, I love The Used as a band,” I began.
I looked up to see if Quinn was looking at me. He did a little wave at me which tipped my anger over the edge. How dare he pretend like we don’t have a relationship! He completely just rejected me on national television and in front of all my friends.
I continued answering her question, “And I’m definitely single as well,” I said copying Quinn’s words, “I’m not interested in dating anyone from The Used, if that’s what you are asking,” I wanted my words to cut into Quinn and embarrass him as well, “They are not my ‘type’. Of course, most of them are great guys. But they are not dating material.” I crossed my arms and looked seriously at Quinn. The interviewer cut the interview.
I hopped off the interview seat and Hazel stopped me, “Thalia I know what he said was embarrassing for you but you totally didn’t need to say such harsh and untrue things about Quinn.”
I looked at her incredulously, “Are you kidding me? He deserves it. I specifically told him how scared I am of being rejected. So what does he do? Rejects me in front of everyone here. Oh yeah, and everyone watching fucking MTV.”
I stormed out of the interview room, and pushed past Quinn. I heard him yell out after me, “Thalia what is going on?!”

Back on the bus I stormed into the bathroom. I splashed my face with water to calm myself down. A few tears slipped out. Gosh, I didn’t realize how much I really liked Quinn. Seeing as I had nothing else to do for the night, I decided to get to bed early. I started brushing my teeth. The rhythmic circles calmed me down. Fuck Quinn. I leant down into the sink and spat out. Suddenly I felt Quinn’s body behind me, his hands clasped firmly around my hips. I quickly straightened up and turned around to look at him.
“What are you doing? Is this seriously a game to you?” I hissed at him.
“What do you mean? Just chill out,” he said removing his hands and stepping back from me.
“Chill out? Are you kidding me? You just said on national television that you’re single. That, quote, ‘there’s no one’. What do I mean to you Quinn? Was I just a fuck buddy or something?”
He smirked, “Well firstly, we haven’t fucked…so that makes no sense.”
I smacked his chest, “No. Now is no time to be cocky! You’ve really hurt me. I told you I’m frightened of being rejected in a relationship and that is totally just what you did to me!”
He realized the seriousness of what I was saying. “Thalia, I’m sorry. I thought you knew that John didn’t want any of us in the band to say we were dating. He wants fans to think we are all single. It’s not my fault…”
I scoffed, “Oh yeah, I’m sure Quinn!”
Now Quinn’s temper flared up. He hated being accused of lying. “I’m telling the fucking truth actually. Ask Jepha or Bert or Brandon. Why would I say that? I was the one who explicitly said I liked you and wanted to see where this went!”
I remained silent, still processing what he was saying.
“What you don’t have anything to yell at me anymore? You wanna play the silent game?” he said yelling at me, “And what about all the shit you said? I haven’t said one word about it.”
“I was getting back at you,” I said softly.
He stepped closer, but his voice was still so loud, “What did you say?! I can’t hear you! Did you say that I’m not dating material, or are you accusing me of lying again?”
I gulped. I really did over-react.
“Answer me!” he said, pushing his body against mine so that I was right against the bathroom sink.
“I’m sorry Quinn!” I yelled back. Oops. That’s no way to apologize.
Both of us were fuming but it was strange because there was also passion in our yelling. My mother used to say that there is a fine line between anger and passion; a good relationship has a mix of the two.
He lifted me off the floor, and sat me so I was sitting on the bench next to the sink. I wrapped my legs around his middle, as he leaned in closer to me.
He murmured and leaned down to my face, “What did you say?”
I looked up at him through my lashes, “I’m sorry baby. I’m sor-“
He cut me off with a passionate kiss. My hands reached up to his neck and continued up to his hair.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered again, as he began kissing my neck.
“It’s okay,” his warm breath tickled my ear.
“I shouldn’t have been so angry. I should have listened,” I continued to talk as he placed kisses all down my neck and onto my collarbones.
“My hot tempered little thing,” he murmured against my skin.
I moaned, realizing how close we were to each other, and that my legs were wrapped against his warm and strong body. His lips were grazing against my collarbones, each touch sent shudders down my back.
As soon as I let the first moan escape my lips, Quinn immediately looked up into my face.
“What was that?” he said with a smirk.
I blushed.
He chuckled, “I think Ms Thalia likes this arrangement,” he said looking down at my legs around his waist and then at my arms which were around his neck.
He picked me off the bench and carried me into the sleeping area. Gently, he placed me down on to his bed and proceeded to climb on top of me. We continued making out. This was as intimate as we had been so far. I couldn’t help myself from grinding my hips into him. Soon, my shirt was off and his trail of kisses went from my collarbones, to my breasts, to my stomach.
“You’re so gorgeous Thalia,” he said looking at me.
“Aw Qui-“
I was interrupted mid sentence by Jeph banging the door open. Nate and Bert were behind him too. I quickly scrambled to put my shirt back on and sit up. My cheeks were red from blushing.
“Ohhhh looky here!” squealed Bert, “They’re already making up!”
Jeph laughed, “Dude, we were looking for you both!”
Bert took off down the bus yelling out “We found them. They were about to have make up sex, I swear!”
My mouth dropped open at Bert. I heard Hazel squealing with Bert at the other end of the bus, and Brandon and John Feldman laughing together. This was the height of embarrassment.
But was it worth it? Hell yes, I just made out with Quinn Allaman.