Statues of Ourselves

It was my first day as a merch girl, and it was by far the most stressful day of my life. If the rest of the tour was going to consist of people who are too fucking picky about merch at an outdoor concert I was going to have to tell Oli I would rather just do sound or something I didn’t actually know how to do. I had worked retail before, but boy can some people drive me insane. Luckily it was near the end of the day and most everyone had found their final stage, and Bring Me was playing last on main stage that night. I packed up all of the various items of Drop Dead that we had for sale and packed them away and back into the trailer. I eventually made my way to the main stage and found the boys backstage prepping themselves for their first show of the summer.

“Eff! Glad you got to make it in time. We were a bit worried yeh wouldn’t make it in time after seein’ the line earlier.” Jona said with a grin on his face.

“Don’t remind me, that literally was fucking awful,” I turned to Oli pointing my finger at him, “if this keeps up I want a new job title…please.” I said with a pout.

“Ayy don’ blame meh. It isn’t meh fault people were pushy today. But I promise yeh it does get better.” Oli then grabbed me into a side hugged and chuckled at how awful my day was. All I know is he better be right.

“It’s time we got on stage, have fun watchin’!” Said Matt N as he jogged up the ramp to the stage, the rest of the boys following.

“Good luck! Wait…what am I saying, you guys do this for a living, you know you’ll do great!” I waited a few before following their same path to find my spot on the side of the stage. I don’t care what people say, side stage actually sucks. You can’t get in on any of the crowd fun and the sound system is pointing the complete opposite way of you. It’s not as VIP as you may think, especially when you’re already best friends with the band in front of you. Regardless, I enjoyed seeing my boys perform live. They have incredible energy every single time they set foot on stage. About halfway through the set I felt a presence next to me.

“Hey there Effy.” The person said with a nudge.

“Oh hey Alex!” I replied with a quick look to the side before looking back at the boys on stage.

“I thought I’d come over and see these guys, I’ve heard great things about their shows. Someone told me they are on the same level as my band.” Alex said smugly, putting me in an awkward position, but luckily I could play it off well.

“Well, I’ve seen your band many times live, and I’m definitely a bigger fan of the Bring Me live show.” I said never once looking over at Alex.

“You didn’t strike me as an All Time Low fan. You definitely should catch our set then, we will make you change your mind.”

“I’m not an All Time Low fan anymore…Last time I saw you guys I was 17 and felt like I was a 50 year old man at a Justin Bieber concert. Being shoved by 14 year old girls wasn’t really the best concert experience.” It truly was awful, but yet Alex wasn’t going to let up. As if wasn’t already sick of people he was really pushing my buttons.

“Oh, well then, don’t base your experiences off of one time! We have that only from time to time.”

“Actually, I’ve seen you guys seven times, I think I’m good. Thanks for the offer though.” I finally broke my gaze and turned towards Alex with a sarcastic smile.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get you on the side of my stage by the end of this tour.” Alex said before leaving the side of the stage. I turned my attention back to the boys on stage in time for their last song. I really hope that they would be exhausted, it being the first show and all, and we could all just sit on the bus in peace. Alex didn’t realize how wrong he was. There was no way I would have time or will to see them. My best friend and I had already seen them seven times and each time the show made us feel more and more out of place, plus his directness may have been attractive yesterday, but on top of my shitty day, the last thing I wanted was someone with more confidence than Lady Gaga. Eventually I saw all five boys walking off the stage, covered in sweat.

“Awesome show you…”

“Was that Alex bloke botherin’ yeh throughout our set?” Oli interrupted me whilst wiping the sweat off his face.

“Oli, you know I can hold my own, it’s fine.”

“I know but I’m ready to kick his ass if yeh want me to.”

“He isn’t that much of a threat, I mean, I can kick YOUR ass.” That was one of my proudest moments, Oli made fun of me, so I wrestled him to the ground and successfully won. We all started to walk back to the bus and he looked at me defensively.

“’cuse me!? You won because I don’ fight birds ‘cause that ain’t right!”

“Lies. I beat yooo assss!”

“Nah, you’re lyin’” Oli said poking my shoulder.

“Sadly I’m not. I won!” We stepped up onto the bus and I couldn’t believe my eyes. The bus was already buzzing with conversation and bottles of alcohol were being opened. So much for a peaceful night.

“Can I just ask now how big this party is going to get?” I said rubbing my temples in frustration more so with the day than the guys themselves, and sitting down on an empty seat.

“If yeh want we can keep it in the back of the bus, yeh can go to bed, and we can keep it down.” Matt K said sympathetically.

“I don’ mean to be rude, but It IS the first day of Warped, we kind of hafta parteh.” Tom said. I knew he wasn’t trying to push me to the edge, because he was right, its almost tradition to party on the first night.

“Here’s the deal. I’m going to go take like a 45 minute nap. Till I wake up, party goes outside. THEN I’ll hopefully be in the mood to party.”

“Sounds perf Eff.” Matt N said with a smile. I moved my way to the bunk that Oli and I were going to share for the tour, climbed in and got myself comfortable. In only moments I was fast asleep.