Growing Up Won't Bring Us Down

“No way! There is no way! I refused to believe it!” Marco exclaimed, sitting up in her bunk with her arms crossed over her chest. Johnny, who was sitting Indian style on the floor in front of her bunk on the bottom, gently pushed her shoulder to make her lie down.

“Then shut up and stick this under your tongue,” Johnny ordered, producing a thermometer from his back pocket. He had stored it in his pocket when he made Marco go lay down in her bunk. He thought she had gotten sick. She was hot, coughing, and sneezing like crazy.

“I still don’t see why. I wanna go watch Alex and the guys,” Marco whined. It was time for the Atreyu set and Marco wouldn’t let it go. He raised an eyebrow and she kept her mouth closed, thermometer under her tongue.

“Well you should have thought about that before getting into a water fight with Jay and Matt T.” It was true. Only minutes after meeting the bassist and singer of Bullet for My Valentine Marco took a water gun and sprayed them down. She ended up getting soaked by them and that’s when she started shivering and everything else began. Johnny and Zacky, the band’s nurse, had decided it was from the ice water. Marco began to talk, everything muffled. “Just wait, alright?”

After a minute or so an obnoxious beeping filled the room. Johnny took out the device as Marco ran her taste buds over her front teeth. “That tastes like ass.”

“And it shows you have a temperature of a hundred and one.” Johnny showed the teen as proof. She cursed softly, a sneeze jerking her body. He held a hand over her forehead to feel like his hand was going to melt. He shook his head at the oddness since she was only in short shorts and a tank, thin pajama material none the less.

“I hate Jay. It’s his entire and utter fault,” Marco muttered, turning onto her side so her back was to Johnny. She was going to be honest; she was completely and absolutely pissed. She was looking forward to this first show for the last week and a silly mistake cost her the whole thing.

“You can’t just blame Jay, Marco.” Marco didn’t reply which caused the adult to sigh. “Fine. I’m going to ask the guys once in a while to come in and watch on you. They’ll probably just stay in the front.”

“Whatever,” the teenager muttered. Johnny sighed, leaning over to kiss her temple before walking to the front then off the bus completely. Outside were the rest of the band, the Berrys, Thor, Matt T., and Jay.

“What’s the verdict Johnny?” Jason asked.

“Temp of a hundred and one. Can you two watch her?” Johnny asked the two men from Bullet hopefully. They shook their heads with sympathetic smiles.

“We have to go off to some photo shoot and then an interview. We probably won’t be back until right before we head out again.”

“Thor?”

“All the managers are getting together to get with our bosses over some shit about tour. We won’t be back until after your set.” Johnny sighed, running a hand through his hair. “But you need to think of something quick. You’re on in five.”

“What about Winter?” We all looked up to see Jimmy grinning.

“She’s a merch girl, she has to take care of merch Jimbo,” Matt informed. Jimmy’s face fell with devastation.

“Then I’ll do it!”

“Jimmy, you’re our drummer, we need you,” Brian sighed, rubbing his temples with both hands.

“Well guys, please find something out as soon as possible. I gotta go.” Thor left with the Bullet boys going in a different direction and the Berrys towards stage to help set up. The five band mates looked at each other with worried expressions. Now what?

“Hey, did I hear you guys need some help?” The whole group turned around to see a guy with short brown hair that reached halfway down his neck. He had bright gray eyes and snakebites. The group looked at him wearily as he stopped a foot away from them. Around his neck was a pass that read “roadie”, much like the Berry twins had to wear.

“Who are you?” Matt demanded.

“Oh, I’m one of the roadies for the band Blesstehfall. My name’s Aaron. I was just on my way to go do dinner when I overheard your dilemma. Sorry if I was eavesdropping,” this guy, Aaron, apologized sheepishly. The guys all relaxed, but Jimmy. He was still glaring the younger man down. What was he, nineteen?

“Do you think you could watch my daughter? It’d only be for, like, forty-five minutes. You can just chill and watch TV in the front if you like.” Jimmy wanted to shout at Johnny, but stayed silent in the back of the group.

“No problem dudes,” Aaron replied with a cheeky grin. The guys, but Jimmy, thanked him before rushing off to the stage. Three minutes until their set. As they all stood around backstage with their instruments, Jimmy only with his drumsticks, Jimmy approached Johnny.

“Short shit.” The bassist jumped, not hearing the drummer walk up. As he turned around he noticed Jimmy’s face with in a mix of anger and worry. This automatically sent the bassist’s nerves on high.

“What’s up Jimbo?”

“Do you really think it was wise to leave Marco with a random stranger?”

“We really didn’t have a choice. We couldn’t just leave Marco alone. What if something happened to her? No one could help her. Besides, Aaron seemed like a really chill dude. She’ll be fine,” Johnny said confidently. Jimmy raised his eyebrow but said nothing. Just then Jason Berry walked into the small room.

“C’mon guys. It’s time.” The band obediently followed the roadie back to the stage. After the lights dimmed and the organ to Critical Acclaim started, they ran off stage to the sound of screaming fans. The further along into the set the band got, the more Johnny worried. What if Jimmy was right, what if leaving Marco with Aaron was a mistake? He is a stranger. Johnny didn’t notice when Matt Berry took Johnny out of the mix, playing prerecorded bass tracks like everyone else had just in case.

As soon as the set ended Johnny wanted to run to the bus. But he couldn’t say no to his fans either. Him and the rest of the guys stood next to the stage behind a barrier separating the fans from the group. It took Johnny’s entire mind to just sign with legible cursive so he lacked on paying attention to conversations with the fans. One guy finally called him out on it.

“Johnny, why are you so distant? My sister has been asking you questions and you’re just ignoring her.” Johnny looked down to see a girl about twelve in front of the angered teen. She reminded Johnny a lot of Marco which didn’t make the situation any better.

“I’m sorry dude, and lady. I’m just worried about my daughter. She’s really sick,” Johnny explained meekly with an apologetic smile. The teen seemed a bit less annoyed while the little girl seemed just ecstatic the bassist acknowledged her presence. After a few questions, an autograph, and a picture, the two left. Luckily those were the last two, too. Johnny thanked whoever was up there and tried to walk calmly back to the bus. That didn’t last long. Soon the short man was sprinting back to the huge, silver bus. He collected himself right outside the door before opening it and climbing the few, short steps. When he got to the living room he saw Aaron lounging on a couch, watching the television.

“Oh, hey dude,” Aaron greeted, smiling at the bassist. Johnny raised an eyebrow, but stepped forward.

“Hopefully Marco didn’t give you any troubles?”

“None at all. I hardly noticed. She was sleeping for most of the time. She only got up to use the restroom once,” Aaron replied, standing to his feet and pressing the ‘off’ button on the remote.

“Thanks a million.”

“No problem. If you ever need someone to watch her again just hit me up.”

“Okay. Bye.” Aaron bid his farewell before leaving the bus, the door shutting behind him. Johnny walked into the bunk room and headed over to Marco’s closed bunk, the only closed one too. He sat down on the floor before silently opening the curtain. Marco still laid with her back to him, but she was grasping something tightly to her chest. “Marco?”

The young girl didn’t reply. He could tell she was awake, her breathing not as constant as when she was asleep. He was confused by this. Marco was never one to ignore him. Then he realized what it was. She was pissed at him because he refused to let her go to the show. He sighed, shutting the curtain, and standing to head back into the front of the bus. Just as he did the guys walked onto the bus.

“What was up with that? That was the fastest gnome I’ve ever seen,” Jimmy laughed.

“I just wanted to check up on Marco. Aaron said she was perfect, slept most of the time. She’s pissed ‘cause I didn’t let her go to the show,” Johnny explained, a weight lifting off his shoulders at his own words.

“She’ll get over it.” Matt held out a beer to Johnny who took it very thankfully.

“A toast to a good first show!” Brian exclaimed, holding his can in the air. Everyone clinked together the cans before taking deep gulps.