Until the End

It had been a week since the day Jimmy and I became a thing and we finally had a day off. I climbed out of bed at ten o’clock, a pretty late time for me, only dressed in Capri pajama pants and a tank. I lazily pulled my hair into a quick ponytail before walking to the front of the bus. There I was met with the half-awake Brian.

“Hello porcupine,” I greeted. Brian simply flipped me the bird. It’s not my fault he must have went to bed with hair gel in and his hair now stuck up everywhere. I opened the cabinet to find a box of blueberry PopTarts. I grinned and plopped in the booth seat across from Brian with my treat. As I ripped open the package I saw Brian’s head bob. Raising an eyebrow I asked, “Why are you up?”

“I couldn’t sleep anymore,” He muttered, fighting to keep his eyes open. I kept my eyebrow raised, obviously not believing him.

“You’re forcing yourself to stay awake Bri.”

“No I’m not,” Brian retorted, his eyes finally meeting mine. He saw the look I was giving him and sighed in defeat. “Okay, fine. I’m waiting for a good time to call this girl I like.”

“This girl you like?” I echoed. He nodded. “And you couldn’t just tell me that why?”

“Because I didn’t wanna..” He trailed off, refusing to finish.

“Show that you are human? Prove you have a soul? The girl is really a guy? Put up this false sense of being manly? Not wanting to show weakness for anything or anyone?” I ranted off. Brian flipped me the bird for a second time in five minutes. “Well seriously, what is it?”

“The last one,” he muttered. I smiled, giving his hand (which was clenching his cell phone) a pat.

“It’s okay Brian. All of us have weakness. You don’t have to try and hide it all,” I laughed. He smiled, nodding. He looked down at the time on his phone and his brown eyes literally lit up. He jumped out of his seat and scrolled through his contacts, selecting one to call. All I heard as he stepped off the bus was ‘hey Carrie’. I smiled, taking a bite out of my late breakfast. Suddenly hands covered my eyes which caused the world to bathe in black.

“Guess who,” someone cooed in my ear. The pathetic attempt at a deep voice made me smirk.

“Let me see Jimmy or I will castrate you.” A loud, dramatic sigh was heard as the hands were removed from my eyes. Jimmy plopped down next to me, an arm draped across my shoulders, and planted a kiss on my lips.

“Morning Hades.”

“Morning Jimmy.” The next thing I knew a pretty big bite of my PopTart was missing. I turned with fake horror at the sight of Jimmy chewing away at my treat. “Jimmy!”

“What?” He asked, his mouth full of chewed up PopTart. I cringed, throwing the one and a half treats onto the table in front of him.

“You have succeeded in making me lose my appetite. Congrats,” I remarked, crossing my arms over my chest and looking away from Jimmy with my nose in the air.

“I’m so sorry!” Jimmy shouted dramatically, hugging me around my waist. “Want me to make it up?”

“I’m listening,” I said, turning back to face the drummer clinging to my side. He grinned up at me.

“Go get dressed. I’m taking you out for the day?”

“Where are we going?” I asked, a frown coming across my face from the thought of trying to figure out where we would go. We were in Tampa, Florida so there was quite a few possibilities, but with Jimmy no one could be too sure what he’d do.

“Outside of course,” Jimmy laughed, standing up and then grabbing my hands and pulling me out of the booth. He gently pushed me towards the bunk room. “Now go get dressed. It’s in the 100’s so dress light.”

“Okay mother.” With that I walked over to my bunk. I pulled open my suitcase and grabbed some clothes I’d be comfortable in. I walked into the bathroom, deciding my hair was okay from last night’s shower. I changed, tossed my pajamas in the overfilling hamper, and straightened my hair. After placing in a new stud for my Monroe I walked back to the front. There Jimmy sat, talking with Brian who was no longer on the phone. “Hey guys.”

“Looking fabulous as ever,” Jimmy greeted, climbing to his feet and kissing my cheek. I grinned, lacing my fingers in Jimmy’s. With a goodbye to Brian we left the bus, heading towards the exit of the venue which wouldn’t be active until tomorrow.

“Where are we going?” I asked for a second time today as Jimmy headed down the road towards town. And again he didn’t answer. Instead he offered me a cigarette, which I had forgot to grab mine, from his pack. I took it gratefully and allowed him to light me up.

“Patience is a virtue,” Jimmy said knowingly. I rolled my eyes and stared back at the people who stared at the two of us. Being ‘dark’ and shit, we tend to get lots of stares. But every time someone caught my eye they looked down guiltily. That was enough to make me grin mischievously. “You hungry?”

“A little since you took my PopTart,” I retorted. Jimmy smiled, laughing at me a little.

“Well how about a snow come, huh?” I looked up to see us in front of a building shaped like an igloo. The name “Snowy Days” was on a sign across the entrance. I wonder if Jimmy makes it up as he goes or he researched it all. I raised an eyebrow, staring at him.

“I guess so. It’ll cool us down at least,” I replied with a smile. Jimmy grinned widely, proud I liked his suggestion. He quickly let me inside to have the cool air send a chill over my whole body. Luckily it felt good and not I-might-die-from-frostbite bad. I laughed as Jimmy automatically began trying to pick his flavor.

“Blue, no! Green! No! Red! No! Ugh, why is there so many?!” He exclaimed, staring wide eyed at the huge board listing every one of their flavors. ‘Over fifty!’ the sign announced. I giggled and stepped forward, taking over and smiling at the teenager who was trying to hold in her laughter.

“We’ll take two medium rainbow snow cones,” I told her. She nodded, getting busy to make our order. Jimmy stared at me with wide eyes and mouth agape.

“You, my fucking lovely, are a genius!” He exclaimed, hugging me around the shoulders. Everyone in the building sent us strange looks but shrugged it off and returned to their own conversations. Soon the girl was handing us our snow cones. I wanted patiently as Jimmy paid for the treats, which he insisted to pay for. I wanted to complain, but I knew it would be useless.

“I like to think so.”

- Time Lapse -

We had successfully blown time until sunset. We’d had our snow cones, went to an amusement park, played around at a park, went on a trail, and even visited an animal shelter. It’s crazy. I didn’t even feel the hours fly by. We now sat on an unnamed beach, watching the sun disappear in the horizon.

“Did you enjoy today?” I looked at Jimmy. I was sitting between his outstretched legs, his arms around my shoulders. He was staring right back at me, not breaking the eye contact.

“Of course.” I grinned, leaning up to peck his lips. It became a bit more passionate, butterflies coursing through my stomach. No matter how many times he had stolen kisses throughout this past week I still had that feeling of flying when his lips touched mine. We finally parted, both of us breathing heavily. I had been turned around to have my legs wrapped around his waist.

“I’m glad,” Jimmy breathed. I laid my head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. The perfect end to the perfect day.

Suddenly my throat tightened, my guts feeling like they were getting ripped apart. I tried to breathe, resulting in a choked sound to escape my throat. The world began to spin so much I couldn’t tell which way was up. I could faintly feel myself being picked up and Jimmy yelling. I didn’t know if it was to me, on the phone, or to someone nearby.

So much for a ‘perfect day’.