Growing Up Won't Bring Us Down

Eight days later, the day Marco’s grounding was finally finished, they were in Detroit, Michigan. The last seven days, in Johnny’s opinion, was the worst seven days ever. Marco had refused to speak to anyone and hardly even chose to look at them. Multiple times he had thought to just cancel it, but one of the guys had ended up talking him out of it. She caused trouble so she needed to fulfill her punishment.

Marco woke up excited though. Not only was she finally ungrounded, she was finally going to be able to go to a concert. Well, as long as she didn’t fuck up. That’s the exact reason she had pulled out her lucky shoes to wear for the day. She literally skipped to the bathroom, humming under hear breath.

This humming woke up a tired Jimmy. He groaned, forcing his eyes shut again whenever he saw the teenager skip by his bunk. He blindly searched the small space to try and find his cell phone. Finally his fingers came in contact with it and he pulled it to his chest. After a moment he finally peeled open his eyelids so he could read the time. 7:30 AM.

He sighed, forcing himself out of bed. He stumbled his way to the front of the bus. He looked into the pantry - completely clean pantry, might he add - and pulled out a blueberry Pop Tart package. He ripped it open, taking half of one Pop Tart into his mouth to lazily chew. Only moments later Zacky walked into the front. He raised an eyebrow, looking at the spaced out drummer.

“Hey man,” Zacky greeted, walking over to the pantry to grab himself his own Pop Tart package. Jimmy tried to reply but it was all muffled due to the mashed up breakfast in his mouth. “Chew first Jimbo.”

Jimmy swallowed deeply before letting out a sigh of relief. “I said what the hell are you doing up so early?”

“I could ask you the same,” Zacky retorted, taking a proper size bite of his Pop Tart. Jimmy sighed, scratching his head.

“Marco’s humming woke me up. I gave up trying to sleep.”

“Same here. Well, Marco I mean. The shower woke me up.” It was then that Jimmy had noticed the water was running. He made an ‘o’ shape with his mouth before taking an enormous bite. Zacky just shook his head at the drummer. “God you’re fucking weird Jimmy.”

“You know you love me,” Jimmy said with a mouthful of mushy Pop Tart. Zacky cringed, looking away from his open mouth.

“Keep telling yourself that,” Zacky remarked. As the two argued about Zacky’s love, or lack of, they didn’t notice the teenager walk out of the bathroom. She was already dressed and had blow dried her hair, leaving it down for the day.

“Morning guys.”

“Morning Marco,” the two said in unison before going back to arguing. Marco rolled her eyes with a smile, heading back into the bunk room. She walked over to her father’s bunk and kneeled down to be able to poke his cheek.

“What?” Johnny groaned, cuddling deeper into his pillow that one arm snaked under.

“Where’s my phone? Grounding’s up,” Marco informed. He muttered his remembrance, pulling his blanket up to rest right under his chin.

“Ask Jimmy to get it for you.” With that he fell back asleep. Marco rolled her eyes and walked back into the front. The two had stopped bickering, but they now had their heads turned in two different directions, refusing to acknowledge the other.

“Hey Jim Jam?” The drummer turned to Marco with a ‘hmm?’. “Can you get my phone? Dad asked me to ask you.”

“Oh yeah, you’re ungrounded today.” Marco nodded. “Sure. Hold on.”

“Where are you…” Marco trailed off as Jimmy walked over to a pantry too high for her to have reached without a chair (that they conveniently did not have). He reached in to grab a cookie jar in the shape of a cat. He removed the lid, reached in, and produced Marco’s bright green Razor. As he placed it in her outstretched palm she rose an eyebrow. “A cookie jar?”

“My great thinking,” Jimmy boasted. She just shook her head, flipping open the cell phone so she could turn it on. The second it was she was bombarded with old text messages. Luckily she had Jimmy text Phoenix on the first day which made him text all their friends that she was grounded. She deleted all the old messages and missed calls from her friends.

“So what are you two up to?”

“Ignoring Jimmy.”

“Ignoring Zacky.”

The two said it in unison, overlapping each other. They turned to glare at each other while Marco was left there blinking in amazement. Soon the two began to bicker again. This time there wasn’t even a point to it. They were bickering just to bicker. Marco stood and walked off the bus, deciding to get a breath of air as a ‘free woman’. Just then her phone went off with the familiar sound of Paramore. She looked at the caller ID and smiled widely.

“Hey Papa,” Marco chirped as she flipped the phone open. A deep chuckle was heard in her ear.

“Hey babe. I figured you’d be up by now. You are ungrounded, right?” The elder Brian Haner asked in a suspicious tone.

“Yeah, I just got my phone back less than a minute ago actually,” Marco replied, plopping down on the grass that filled the venue. It was a good thing she had decided to wear a jacket today. Being only February and in Michigan, it was pretty chilly.

“Damn I have good timing,” Papa Gates laughed in her ear. McKenna, who had just walked into the kitchen her father sat in, grinned widely.

“Is that Marco?!” He nodded. “Tell her I said hi!”

“Kenna says hi,” Papa Gates informed Marco.

“Tell her I said hi.” Once this exchange was done McKenna grabbed an apple and then placed a kiss on his cheek. She waved as she left to catch her bus for school. “So what are you up to Papa?”

“Just doing old people stuff. Football games, playing guitar, hanging out with old guys like Jeff.” A loud groan left the girl’s throat, making the older man hold his cell away from his ear. He smiled, turning the page of the newspaper that laid on the island he sat at.

“You got to see Jeff?! Why is everyone seeing everyone I wanna see when I’m not in town?” Marco whined.

“Well if you would have stayed home,” Papa Gates said suggestively.

“I’m not coming back just to see Jeff,” Marco laughed, examining her nails. Man were they chipping.

“I’ll be sure to send him your undying love,” Papa Gates laughed. “So how are things going over there?”

“I’ve had better days,” Marco muttered, her eyes drooping as she thought of the whole time they were on tour. Nothing was going as she wanted. Actually, the total opposite.

“What’s wrong?” He had stopped reading the newspaper and was staring off into space at a wall. He had noticed a change in her voice. He wasn’t sure what it meant, but he knew it wasn’t good.

“It’s just - ” She cut herself off, looking around the venue nervously. She shook her head even though her godfather couldn’t see her. Yeah, whenever she had gotten adopted by Johnny he had made Papa Gates her godfather. He pulled the part perfectly. Anything she couldn’t talk to Johnny about she usually turned to him. “No, nevermind Papa. It’s nothing.”

“It doesn’t sound like it Mar,” Papa Gates said knowingly.

“It is. Don’t worry about it,” Marco tried to reassure, forcing out a laugh. “I have to go Papa. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

“Okay. Remember my phone’s available at any time.”

“Okay Papa.” With that she hastily hung up. Brian sighed, shutting his own phone and placing it down next to his paper. Just then his wife Suzy walked in, humming to herself as she usually did. She noticed her husband’s worried face and stopped on her journey to the fridge.

“Brian? What’s wrong?” He snapped out of his trance and smiled at Suzy.

“It’s nothing Suzy. I just got off the phone with Marco is all.”

“Is she alright?” He thought of lying, but he knew that it was pointless to lie to the woman. She could read him like a book.

“I don’t know Suze. She makes me worry about her,” he admitted. She walked forward, hugging him around the shoulders and planting a kiss on his cheek.

“You shouldn’t. She’s a strong girl, she can take care of herself.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” He turned to place a kiss on her lips.

“Now how about some pancakes, huh?” Brian just grinned, turning back to his paper. She sure knew how to cheer him up.