Oh, Dakota

The day I met Dakota was just like every other day on tour with A Rocket To The Moon, playing music, driving from place to place. Just a regular, ordinary day of setting up instruments around the venue we were playing at that night, when I noticed something different.

One of our crew guys had gotten really sick and had to quit for the rest of the tour, and I had heard everyone mention hiring someone else, but the thought only crossed my mind a few times. I knew there would be someone new walking around and lugging shit around and handing us our instruments from backstage, but I just never paid a lot of attention to it, really.

Justin, Eric, Andrew and I were standing on a balcony overlooking the stage while the remaining things were being set up. The show was starting in a few hours, and really all there was to do was help out and wander around aimlessly. Justin and Andrew were talking to each other about something that had occurred on the tour bus the previous night while I was asleep, and I just stared down at the nearly empty stage, occupied by only a few crew members.

Then a girl walked on stage.

She had her dirty blond hair up in a messy side ponytail, with her straight-across bangs falling into her eyes. She was small, thin, with a soft face and a smile as she laughed with the other crew members. I leaned against the railing, and just looked at her. I guess I was being sort of creepy, but at the moment, I really couldn't care less.

I nudged Eric, standing right beside me, and he looked over.

"Hey, who's that girl?" I gestured over to the girl, who was now retreating back off stage, to my disappointment.

"Oh, her name is Dakota. New crew member. She's gonna be here the rest of the tour." Eric grinned. "Why? Got the hots for her or something, Nick?"

I looked back down at the stage. "No, Eric. I haven't even met her." I rolled my eyes, and he laughed.

"Sure, man. Sure."

I just nodded, and started heading to the other side of the venue to get ready for the concert.

--

The roaring of the crowd started dying down a bit as we all headed backstage, ending the show for that night. I grabbed a cloth to wipe my face off, and just kept walking with the cloth in my face, covering my eyes.

I slammed into someone.

Originally, I sort of thought is was Halvo, running in front of me to gush about how awesome the show was and I had bumped into him, but pretty quickly, I figured out it wasn't Halvo.

I dropped the rag from my hands and it fell to the the floor, and my eyes fell on the person I had run into.

I was immediately looking into a pair of big, green eyes lined with long eyelashes, blond bangs partially covering the eyes. I took a step back, and just looked at Dakota. I knew I was sort of gaping, and I knew I looked stupid as hell, but I didn't really process it at the moment.

"S-Sorry..." I looked around, and saw Andrew, Justin, and Eric talking amongst themselves a little while away. Close enough for me to see them, far away enough for me to not be able to hear them. "I should watch where I'm going."

Dakota smiled, and shook her head. "No, no, it's my fault. I don't think I'm supposed to be here right now anyways."

I laughed nervously. "Oh yeah? Why not?"

"I dunno. I'm sort of confused. First day working, you know?" She stuck her hands into my pockets of her ripped up skinny jeans, and looked down at the floor. "I hope I don't like, screw this job up."

"You won't screw up." She looked up at me and smiled. "Dakota, isn't it? My name is Nick." I held out my hand, and she took it, shaking it gently. Her hands were so small, and soft in comparison to mine.

"Nice to meet you." She said quietly, getting sort of shy all of a sudden. I noticed the light freckles sprinkled across the bridge of her nose.

She was one of the prettiest things I had ever seen.

We just sort of stood there awkwardly, and I could feel the stares of my friends on me, but for some reason, I didn't want to leave. I wanted to stay and talk to her, even though there was nothing to talk about.

"Dakota!" One of our other crew members called from the stage while all the fans filed out the double doors leading to the coat rooms and merch, and then the hallway that led to the outside of the venue.

"I better go work. I'll see you later, okay, Nick?" She smiled shyly at me, gingerly stepping around me to run over to the stage.

"Yeah... Um, yeah. Definitely." I smiled back at her, and waved as she took off.

--

Next state, next city, next venue. It was the same thing as always, with only a few things different, like the location, and the fact that Dakota was here now. It would be my first time seeing her since the first time we met, and I couldn't really lie and say I wasn't excited.

The tour bus had just parked, and none of us were exactly ready to leave yet. We all sort of just wanted to sleep on the bus a bit longer, because we sure as hell hadn't gotten a lot of sleep the previous couple nights. All the guys had been doing was talking about so called "Dakota and I", like such a thing existed. I mean, I barely knew the chick...

"Seriously, though, Nick. Are you gonna tap that?" Eric said seriously, sitting up in his bunk to look at me.

I rolled my eyes, resisting the urge to chuck a pillow at the idiot. "No. I just met her, remember that fact?"

"Still, you guys looked cute together." Justin added. "She's all little and cute and shit."

I shrugged. "Yeah. 'Spose."

"Just... I dunno. Get to know her. Help her set up at the next show, or something. Woo her." Eric offered, which I laughed at.

"Will do." I grinned, sliding off my bunk to get my shoes on. "We should probably go though. Don't want to be late for 'woo'ing Dakota, right?"

"Definitely." He patted me on the back, and we all headed off the bus.

Once we were inside the venue, I immediately saw Dakota. She was sort of hard to miss. She just stuck out, in a good way of course. Her ripped skinny jeans were replaced with blue jeans, with a bright turquoise tank top. Her hair fell past her shoulders in loose curls, and her vivid green eyes were fixed on the wires connecting the light systems, amps, and all that other shit. I started walking over to her when I saw her struggling with a box filled with wires and pedals, dragging it across the stage.

"Hey, Dakota." I said, jamming my hands in my pockets and standing beside her as she yanked at the box.

She looked up for only a moment, and smiled. "Hey."

"Need some help?"

She glanced around, seeing no one, she nodded and I started helping her move it. The box was light, but I guess not for her, which was understandable. She was tiny.

"Thanks, Nick. Really." She said, once we had moved the box to its destination. "I sometimes think I'm not cut out for this job. I can't even move a stupid box."

I wiped my hands off on my jeans and looked her right in the eyes. "C'mon, you do fine. It's just the lifting and carrying stuff, I think, but that's all good."

She shrugged, smiling. "Well, I guess. How are you doing?"

"I'm pretty good." I said, sitting down on the stage. She followed, and sat beside me. "What about you?"

"Good. I really like you guys. This is the best tour I've ever worked on." She said happily. "Then again, I've only worked on three others, but still."

"Well, I'm glad you're enjoying yourself." I smiled back at her. I felt horribly nervous. My palms were sweating.

"I like your music, that's all." She laughed. "I guess that's why I'm having so much fun, and I haven't even barely worked yet."

I blinked at her. "You do? Cool..." I made a mental note to try and play for her sometime... alone.

She just nodded, and I looked at her, feeling sort of creepy for just staring but she didn't seem to to think so I continued.

"Hey uh, I think we have a day off tomorrow to just hang out and relax. Do you want to hang out or something? If you want to. I mean... you know."

She giggled, and nodded enthusiastically. "I would love to, Nick. Really."

And that, I suppose, is how it all started.

--

Weeks and weeks past, and soon, the tour was going to be over.

Dakota and I spent that day together, as well as many others. We sort of became best friends, texting each other all night, hanging out whenever we had the chance, telling each other secrets. We would just hang out, and do stupid shit like play board games, and then we could be serious, and talk about where we'd come from, where we are, where we wanted to be. But, that's all we were. Best friends.

She mystified me. One moment, she's be talking like she was in love with me, and next she would turn her head when I tried to kiss her.

I still hadn't kissed her.

I really, really wanted that to change.

The band had gone out for dinner, while I stayed on the bus to catch up on sleep. I had been up all night the past week almost talking to Dakota, and I was fucking exhausted. I lay down in my bunk, and shut my eyes.

...And then I heard the bus door open.

I sat up, groaning, wondering why in the hell someone would come in, and who the hell it was, and why the hell wasn't I sleeping, but then I looked at the person standing there.

It was Dakota.

Immediately, I was awake. Totally, completely awake. I shot up and walked over to her. "Hey, Dakota. What's... up?"

"Sorry Nick, is this a bad time?" She asked, walking over to my bunk and sitting down.

"Nope. Not at all." I sat down beside her. I could feel the warmth radiating from her body, and smell her perfume. "It's a good time, actually."

She smiled. "Good. I wanted to see you."

I scooted a bit closer to her. "Why? Something on your mind?"

She shrugged, tilting her head down so her blond hair covered her face. I couldn't see her green eyes, or her freckles, or anything. "A few things."

"Like?" I moved the hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear. She smiled over at her.

"Just a lot of stuff, Nick. Like... like that the tour is almost over. I'm gonna miss you." She sighed, resting her head on my shoulder. I slowly wrapped my arm around her waist, holding her against me. I loved the feeling of her body against mine. "You're my best friend, Nick."

"You're my best friend too." I said quietly, stroking her side with my thumb, trying to show her I was here. I would always be. "I'll come visit you. Maybe you can work on tour again."

She looked up at me, her head resting on my shoulder, completely quiet except for the sound of her breathing. Her hair fell around her hand in a mess, like a halo, her green eyes looked right into mine, her pink lips slightly parted.

She was the most gorgeous thing I had ever seen.

I was falling in love.

I didn't know what I was thinking, apparently nothing, but I lifted my hand to tame her hair, and I cupped the back of her hand with my hands, and tilted my head down so my forehead brushed against hers, and my mouth hovered over hers. I hesitated, breathing in sharply, then kissed her.

It was just a kiss. A quick, short kiss. Just her mouth on mine. Nothing more than that, but it made my heart swell, and my chest tighten. She pulled away, and smiled at me, and with no other words, she kissed me again.

We spent the night like that. Exploring, finding out each other in a new, weird way. We didn't have sex. We hardly even came close, but I got to hold her, and touch her, and kiss her, and it was brilliant and beautiful and all I could ask for.

Finally, our bodies both quit, and we crawled into my bunk together. She wore a pair of my boxers, and one of my tshirts, and I just slept in my boxers. Her body curled up against mine, her head buried in the crook of my neck with her hair splayed across the pillow, my hands on the small of her back, just lying there, just together. I got the pleasure of falling asleep with her in my arms, waking up to those big green eyes blinking at me. I was the luckiest guy on the entire planet.

In the morning, we woke up, and she had to leave, and she changed back into her clothes and I stood there, and helped her redress herself. I got to admire every curve, freckle, contour on her little body, and I just wanted to kiss every little perfection, imperfection, everything.

Then, she left. I walked her to the door of the bus, her fingers laced in mine, and I pressed my lips onto her forehead, kissing her goodbye, and I waved as she disappeared across the parking lot. I could feel the stares of my friends, but I didn't care. They could think what they want. I didn't really care at all anymore.

The moment I didn't see her anymore, I grabbed a piece of paper, pencil, and my guitar, and I started writing.

--

"Dakota... pick up your fucking phone..." I muttered to myself, tapping my fingers against my pillow. We were staying leaving the city for the final show in the morning, and then, I would be going home. There wouldn't be time for this. It had to be right here, right now.

Finally, answered. "What the fuck, Nick Santino, why are you calling me at 3 in the fucking morning?" She grumbled. I immediately started smiling.

"Can you come meet me?" I asked, with no other explanation. "Please?"

She was quiet for a moment. "Right now?"

"Yeah."

"My fucking god..."

"Please Dakota?"

"Yeah, yeah. Be there in ten, alright? Wait outside the bus."

"Done."

"Bye, Nick." She sighed, and I heard the rustling of the blankets as she got out of bed on the other side of the phone.

"Bye." I hung up, getting out of bed, grabbing my guitar, and leaving the bus, standing alone in the dark outside the bus. It was dark out, but not pitch black from city lights and street lights, I could see most things when they were in a close enough distance. I sat down on the pavement, and waited.

Dakota finally showed up, and sat down in front of me. She was wearing shorts and a baggy t-shirt, and her hair was sticking straight up, but she was gorgeous. I smiled at her, and she tilted her head. "Now, Nick, what did you drag me out of bed at three in the morning for?"

I laughed, putting the guitar in my lap and taking her hands in mine, leaning in and kissing her quickly. "I wanna show you something, okay?"

She raised an eyebrow.

"Cause you know, tomorrow is our last day for a little while. I wanna make sure... I wanna make sure you don't forget me."

She gave me a confused look. but I didn't let her say anything else. I just started playing.

"She knows exactly what to do, whenever I’m alone with her. I can barely make a move by the time the she opens up her eyes, she sings to me at night, she's singing: ba da ba ba ba da ba ba ba da ba ba...I know that she barely knows me, and I’m fake in love with her. It’s like I’m singing karaoke, and I forgot the second verse, but I can make up my own words." I raised my eyes from the neck of my guitar to her eyes. She looked mesmerized, and dumbfounded, and I just smiled at her and kept singing. "Oh Dakota, I know our love is new. I barely know you. I’ve fallen over you. It’s the way you do the things you do that make me fall in love with you. Oh Dakota, are you in love with me too?"

The smile on her face was radiant, beautiful, the greatest thing I had ever seen.

"She’s got a little bit of money and a little bit of this and it's all she needs to live. I’ve got a little bit of love and a little bit of that and it’s all I have to give. This time, I’ll try not to show that I am not letting go. Oh Dakota, I know our love is new. I barely know you. I’ve fallen over you, it's the way you do the things you do that makes me fall in love with you. Oh Dakota, are you in love with me too? I’ll show you, I’ll show you and you’ll know, and you’ll know that I’m not letting go. I’ll show you, I’ll show you and you’ll know, and you’ll know I’m not letting go of her..."

And then, to my surprise, her soft sweet little voice joined in with mine, singing:

"Ba da ba ba ba da ba ba ba da ba ba....Ba da ba ba ba da ba ba ba da ba ba..."