All Time Trouble

“This puppy is so cute!” I said kneeling on the floor with Jayde as Matt started to yell at Rian for wandering off like that, and how he was not going to be ‘acting as an adult watching after six five year olds.’

“His name is Baron!” Jayde corrected me.

“Alright fine, Baron is so cute!” I said continuing to rub his stomach and he rolled over, causing Jayde and I to aw aloud.

“Not as cute as me!”

“Oh please Alex, a rabid squirrel that’s frothing at the mouth is cuter than you,” I said and he just looked at me with a shocked expression.

“You are just horrible today!” he said and I chuckled.

“Only to you.” I said giving a small smile and he just shook his head and I went back to scratching Baron’s head.

“You would think someone telling you they love you would put you in a better mood,” Zack whispered in my ear and I just laughed and nudged him a bit.

“Shut up,”

“Maybe I don’t wanna,” he laughed.

“Fine, it’s your choice.”

“Get to stage guys, you’re not going on earlier today, your guys’ set has been pushed back to when you’d normally be going on, and I want you guys to practice more, so stop flirting and get up there,” Matt said and pushed Zack’s head and he just laughed as him and the others went to the stage, and Matt stood off to the side watching their every move to make sure they wouldn’t start fucking around, and Jayde and I stayed towards the back and continued to play with Baron.

“Sooo,” she said and I looked over at her as she stood up.

“Sooo what?” I asked standing up too, picking up Baron as I did so.

“How does it feel?”

“How does-“

“Zack telling you he loves you?” she asked cutting me off, probably not in the mood for me ‘playing dumb’ as she says.

“You want my honest opinion?” I asked scratching Baron’s head.

“Honest opinion.” She repeated and we both looked towards the stage and watched the guys.

“It feels fucking amazing Jayde, you don’t even know.” I said with a sigh.

“Oh I know,” she said with a chuckle as she crossed her arms and leaned back on the wall as we continued to watch the guys.

“It kinda doesn’t even feel real though. Like I’m waiting to be woken up from a dream, or for someone to pinch me, or - OW! THAT WASN’T AN INVITATION!” I shouted when Jayde pinched my underarm.

“Well you said-”

“Just because I said it doesn’t mean I wanted it done. God dammit Jayde! That fucking hurt! Take Baron before I drop him,” I said handing him to her as I rubbed my arm.

“Fucking fingers of steel you have,” I said holding onto my arm and she just laughed as she made kissy faces at the puppy and he licked her nose.

“But as I was saying, it feels so unreal, but I’m glad it is, because I can honestly say I haven’t been anymore happy than I am now,” I said looking up at the stage and I caught Zack’s eye and he winked at me and I felt the blush start to rise in my cheeks and he just smiled and continued to play because Matt snapped at him.

“Matt, will you calm down and stop freaking out? You’re gonna give yourself a heart attack!” I laughed and he just pointed at me.

“Stop distracting him and I won’t have to freak out which will lead to my heart attack!” he said and I just laughed.

“C’mon Jayde, let’s go get some stuff to set up a bed for Baron in the back of the van so Mr. Uptight doesn’t blame us for going into cardiac arrest later.” I said pulling her by the arm and she laughed.

“So what exactly are we gonna get?” Jayde asked when she got in the passenger seat with Baron on her lap and I climbed into the driver’s seat.

“A bed, some food, a couple toys, the jist of it.” I said turning the key in the ignition and backing out of the parking space we were in.

“And you’re sure there’s a PetSmart around here?” Jayde asked and I nodded.

“How can you be so sure? Do you even know where we are?” she asked and I nodded again as I turned a corner.

“Actually, I do, Mom and Dad always took Alex and I on trips around here when we were younger,”

“How old were you?” she asked and I shrugged.

“Seven, maybe eight? Hell, I could’ve been nine for all I know,”

“How can you remember something from that long ago though?” she asked and I shrugged again.

“I don't know, it just kinda stuck to me. I just remember all this stuff, oh look, we’re.” I said pointing past her and out the window.

“Oh we are,” she said and I turned into the parking lot.

“See? I told you I knew what I was doing. Just remember one thing, don’t EVER second guess a Gaskarth's driving skills,” I said as we got out and she just laughed.

“We need to get Baron cleaned up while we’re here too," Jayde said scratching his chin.

“Why? He doesn’t look raggedy,” I said patting his head and he licked my hand.

“I know that, but that’s not what I meant. He just doesn’t particularly smell like a basket of roses,” Jayde said and I laughed.

“Why do people always say that when they’re talking about wanting things to smell good? A basket of roses doesn't even smell too good. A single rose? Yes, but not a basket,” I laughed and Jayde elbowed me in the side.

“You know what I mean, I just want him to get a bath.” she said and I nodded still laughing. I walked ahead of Jayde and already started picking out the essentials of what we needed, a bed, a collar and leash, some snacks and a couple toys, and when Jayde caught up with me and we started discussing the food dilemma.

“Well Baron’s being groomed now, and I don’t think we need to we need to bring a huge bag of dog food with us because we’d be in the van and in and out of hotels, and when we’re in the van we’re gonna be with the guys, they’d probably have the dog food spilled all over within two days,” she said and I laughed.

“So I’m guessing he’s gonna be eating scraps and bread and stuff for a while?” I asked and she nodded.

“Well I think we’re all set, we just gotta get a personalized tag for his collar, and wait for him to be done getting groomed, then we can leave.” I said and Jayde nodded. We went to pay for everything and Jayde gave all the information for Baron’s name tag. When that was done, Baron was also done being groomed. We put his collar on and connected the leash.

“Well aren’t you a pretty boy? Yes you are, yes you are!” I kept saying in a baby voice as we walked out and Jayde just stared at me.

“What?”

“Stop talking like that, you’re freaking me out,” she laughed and picked Baron up and put him on the front seat while we set up his stuff in the back of the van.

“Haven’t you ever talked with a baby voice when you were talking to Dylan?” I asked and Jayde gave me the weirdest look.

“You’ve never talked to Dylan in a baby voice?” I asked again and she shook her head.

“Barely, Jack made that his job,” she said and I laughed.

“Well let’s get going before Matt finds out we’re gone and skin us alive,” I said and Jayde laughed with me because we both knew it was true. We drove back to the venue and brought Baron inside.

“You know we’ll have to put him in the van or someone will have to stand out here with him while the guys play.” She said and I nodded.

“Yeah, so... who’s it gonna be?” I said slowly and we looked at each other. But before we could call who would stay inside, we got interrupted.

“WHERE THE FUCK HAVE YOU GUYS BEEN?!” Matt hollered and we just stood there.

“Don’t answer me, that’s fine, but you guys could’ve at least let us know you were going somewhere, you scared us all to death, and the guys are out looking for you two.” he said crossing his arms as he stood in front of us and we just looked down.

“We’re sorry Matt.” we said with our heads still down, and he sighed.

“It’s okay. But please just don’t ever do that again,” he said hugging us.

“Alright.” We mumbled and he pulled away and nodded a bit. He patted Baron’s head, gave a little thumbs up and mumbled ‘alright’ and walked away, causing Jayde and I to laugh. And as soon as Matt was out of view, Rian, Jack, Alex and Zack started walking towards us, looking more pissed than either of us have seen any of them.

“Would you two like to-”

“Matt already yelled at us, we know what we did was wrong, save your breath for the next time we do something bad or step out of line,” I said holding a hand up as I cut Alex off.

“Well he’s not your older brother, I can yell at you as much as I want, you’re MY responsibility when we’re on this tour, not his. Same with Jack and Jayde. Yeah he’s to keep an eye on you and Jayde when the four of us are onstage, but you’re my all-around responsibility Kayden,” Alex said and I nodded as I hung my head again.

“I’m sorry Alex.”

“Same goes for you Jayde,” Jack said and she nodded.

“Sorry Jack,” she mumbled and I saw Alex nudge Jack.

“You can’t steal my fucking responsibility speech dude, that’s plagiarism,” he said and we all laughed. Everyone started to disperse, and Jayde handed Baron to me as she ran ahead to walk with Alex and hold his hand and I just sighed.

“I guess I’ll be sitting outside with him while the guys play!” I shouted after her and she turned around and smiled.

“Thankkk youuuu!” she said and I just rolled my eyes and walked outside and sat at the merch booth.

“I’ll be right back puppy, I wanna get the treats from the van so I can teach you some tricks!” I said kissing his head and placing him on the chair I was sitting in. and surprisingly he stayed there. I speed walked to the van and looked around for the bag Jayde and I just had filled with Baron’s new stuff. When I found it, I grabbed one of the bags of treats and a ball we bought and walked back to the merch tent, but to my surprise, Baron wasn’t the only one in the seat when I got there.

“You are a cute puppy, you know that? Yes you are, yes you are!”

“I’m glad I’m not the only one that talks like that to him, cause Jayde looked at me like I had seven heads earlier when I was talking to Baron in a baby voice,” I laughed and Zack looked up at me.

“Just don’t tell anyone I was talking like that, or I will have to murder you.”

“Haha yeah, ever since I heard you talking like that you’re not very intimidating anymore,” I laughed pulling up another chair and sat next to Zack, taking Baron from his lap and putting him on the ground and held a treat in front of him.

“Sit.” I said and he just stared at me blankly.

“Baron, sit.” I repeated and he tilted his head to the side a little.

“Awww, that was adorable, you get a treat anyway,” I said holding the treat out for him to eat.

“Why did you give him a treat? He didn’t sit, he didn’t even move!” Zack asked holding out his hands towards Baron as he chewed on his treat.

“But he tilted his head! It was so cute!” I said gripping the top of the treats bag a bit.

“But that’s not treat-worthy! He has to do something right in order to get a treat! God dammit, you don’t know how to teach dogs tricks, give me the treats,” Zack said holding his hand out and I held the bag away.

“Kayden,”

“No! I’m teaching him tricks, I handle the treats!”

“You’re not teaching him anything! You’re giving him treats for being cute!” he laughed.

“It is in my book!”

“Kayden, just give me the treats, I wanna try something.” Zack said still holding his hand out.

“Fine, but you get ONE.” I said taking a single treat and placing it in his hand.

“I’ll show you how to train a dog tricks,” he said before turning back to Baron.

“Sit.” He said and Baron did nothing.

“Baron, sit.” He repeated and Baron stayed the way he did before.

“Wow, wasn’t I just doing the same thing?” I asked and he held up a finger.

“Shush,” he said then turned back to Baron. He kept repeating ‘sit’ over and over again as he made hand gestures and held the treat in front of Baron’s face. He finally sat and I cheered as Zack gave him a treat. We stayed there for about an hour, as we were both on the ground trying to teach Baron some tricks.

“Yo guys, I hate to break up your little love fest that you’ve got going on here, but we need Zack onstage!”

“Fuck off Jack, no one asked for your opinion!” I hollered and he just laughed and went back inside.

“Well, I’ll be out here with Baron,” I said as Zack stood up.

“Why?”

“I highly doubt he’ll be able to stand the volume from the speakers,” I said and Zack bit his lip a bit.

“Okay.”

“Plus, someone’s gotta man the merch booth,” I said with a simple shrug and Zack nodded.

“Right,”

“Well get in there and play an awesome show, I’ll be out here,” I said pulling Baron onto my lap.

“Okay, see you later.” He said and looked hesitant for a moment.

“See ya,” I said with a small smile and he kissed my head before going inside. And thank god he had already turned to leave, because I was starting to blush like mad.