The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows

Adie

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“I met someone,” Ari gushes to me the next morning. I sit at the small booth in the front of the bus.

“Oh?” I feign interest as I heroically attempt to fight the oncoming throbs of a hangover in the back of my skull.

“He sings for one of the main stage bands. Cobra Starship? His name is Gabe,” she divulges, grabbing a water bottle from the fridge and then slamming it shut in a way that makes my head throb.

“Oh?” I absently say again, still studying the schedule for the day.

“He invited us to a party on The Academy Is…’s bus tomorrow.”

“Oh?”

“Stop saying that,” Ari scowls, annoyed only for a few seconds before her mind returns to this “Gabe” again. I glance at her briefly, studying her cheesy smile.

“What about…Ian?” I abruptly ask, with difficulty.

“We’re-” Ari begins, but is interrupted by the bunk door banging open.

“Where’d you go last night? The party was awesome!” Leo demands of me. I wince at the loudness of his tone.

“I was hanging out with Alex,” I answer him, still grimacing.

“Alex Gaskarth?” Ari asks, now interested on a whole new level.

“Uh…yeah,” I reply uncomfortably, absently rubbing at a mosquito bite on my bare arm.

“Thought you didn’t have any plans,” Ari teases.

“Yeah, well…” I trail off. She waits expectantly for me to finish. “Shut up,” I grumble, scowling and getting up from the table.

“Where are you going?” she asks, sounding amused.

“I have…things to do,” I lie, not really wanting to talk about the whole Alex situation. She opens her mouth to ask what kind of things, but I interrupt before she has the chance. “Tour manager things, okay?”

Her and Leo hold up their hands in defense and I just sigh as I exit the bus.

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“Can you believe it?” Ian asks me suddenly. We’ve been walking in comfortable silence towards the merch tent since we left the bus, so I’m kind of startled when he speaks.
It’s his turn to cover for John at the table and I’m just making my usual rounds, seeing as it’s late afternoon and they’ve already played their set.

“Believe what?” I ask, trying to ignore the speed increase in my heart rate.

Part of me desperately wants to ask him what’s going on with my sister- whether he knows about her new “friend.”

Whether he cares.

But I know better and keep those speculations to myself.

“Just…that we’re here, doing this,” he replies simply. “I wasn’t sure we’d be ready for another year on Warped, but we’re here.”

He’s referring to the addition of Trevor to the line up only a few months ago, how we weren’t sure if he’d work out or not or be able to handle a long tour, but he seems to be adjusting.

Ian pauses to look at me. His hazel eyes meet my gray ones and I’m embarrassingly tongue-tied for a few seconds while I attempt to regain my composure.

I’m almost back in control of my thoughts when he smiles brilliantly at me.

“What?” I ask, dazedly.

“I just want to thank you. For all the hard work. We’d be nowhere without you, you know,” he remarks, and I feel a faint flush working its way onto my pale skin and I know it’s not from the summer sun bearing down on us.

I open my mouth to object, to say that of course they’d be somewhere without me.

He’s smart, talented, thoughtful, and me – I’m just me.

Just Adie.

I close my mouth and smile back instead.

Then we’re almost at the table when Ari breaks between us, throwing her arms around our shoulders and with just a grin, she captures Ian’s full attention.