She's a Dwelling Place for Demons

I turned around to find the one and only Matt Sanders behind me, grinning as mad as a hatter. His hazel eyes were bright and shining in the kitchen’s fluorescent lighting.

“I thought you and Jimmy were over at your house?”

Brian said that Matt and Jimmy were over at Matt’s house going over something, and when they went over something, it wasn’t just a thirty minute visit. So why the hell are they here now?

“Yeah, we WERE…but now we’re here,” Matt stated, with a smile stretched from ear to ear.

An ever so “discreet” cough was made by Brian entering the kitchen, making me jump away from Matt’s embrace.

“Where is everyone? Aren’t we supposed to leave soon?” I asked as I tried to finally drink my coffee. It was actually really good. Note to self, I thought, thank Brian for the coffee.

“Well, String Bean is in his room trying to find his god forsaken suitcase, Zacky’s on his way, and Johnny’s getting a ride from him,” Brian stated, cutting Matt off.

A few seconds of awkward silence passed, and the only thing I could think to say was, “Who’s driving?”
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“Why do I always have to drive?!”

Surprise, surprise, it was my “turn” to drive…again.

“Because you don’t have to stand on a stage and constantly move around for an hour, that’s why,” Zacky smirked. Slowly, that smirk faded into his sincere smile. God, that kid had the best smile. He should use those cheek muscles more often; he’s entirely too serious for his own good.

“Yeah, Alexx, if you’re gonna come along with us to the shows, you need to put that ass of yours to work!” Jimmy yelled from his bedroom, still looking for his suitcase, no doubt, followed by a “sexy” growl from Brian as he passed by me.

“Okay, calm down, I’ll drive. I still need to pack. Are you guys packed? You’re all aware it’s a two month long tour, yeah?” I looked around my now full kitchen with everyone present.

Jimmy looked at Johnny, Johnny looked at Matt, Matt looked at Brian, Brian looked at Zacky, and Zacky looked at me. In a matter of two seconds, half of the kitchen’s attendants were gone, raiding Jimmy’s closet for clothes, most likely.

“You both packed? For more than one week’s worth of clothes? Please tell me you did,” I asked as I turned around to face Zacky and Johnny.

“AHH! GODDAMN MOTHERFUCKER! I FOUND IT!” Jimmy yelled, letting everyone know that he actually found his suitcase for once.

“Hun, I packed for THREE weeks worth of clothes,” Zacky laughed.

“And I just packed all my shit,” Johnny grinned.

At least SOMEBODY came prepared, I thought.

Out of unconscious habit, I flickered my eyes over to the clock on the wall which now read 6:00 A.M. At this rate, we were NEVER going to make it.

“Jimmy, hurry up! If I can get packed in five minutes, so can you!” I turned back to Johnny and Zacky and said, “I’ll be back in a few minutes. Just chill here until Jimmy’s done packing, and when he’s done, go out to all your cars, get your stuff, get in the van and wait for me. I shouldn’t be more than ten minutes at most, okay?”

“Yeah, but take your time. And calm the fuck down,” Zacky smiled. Again. Where would I be without him?

A grin spread across my face in acknowledgement to Zacky’s comment, and I raced to my room.

First things first, find my suitcase. Check. It was propped up right against my closet. Next, change out of pajamas. I’m sure the guys wouldn’t appreciate it too much if I was walking around in my pj’s during their “big break”. I found my favorite Metallica tour shirt and a pair of pin striped skinny jeans, so I put those on, followed by my favorite pair of grey high tops. Now, the packing process began. I started finding any clean clothes I could find and throwing them into my red luggage. Three minutes of this, and I found myself with thirteen pairs of skinny jeans, about ten mismatched socks, all of my undergarments, twenty-ish band shirts, three necklaces, an extra pair of high tops, and ten tanktops that I used as layering pieces. Not too shabby. I zipped up the massive suitcase, set it on my bed, and grabbed my backpack that I was supposed to use for my senior year of high school and ran to the bathroom.

I started grabbing everything I could see that was mine. Toothbrush, toothpaste, make-up, Q-tips, hair brush, hair straightener, and I threw some shampoo and conditioner bottles in there too. I checked my watch, which now said that it was 6:05 A.M. I raced back to my room to get my iPod, iPod car charger, my wallet that had three hundred bucks in it, and some deodorant. After throwing everything into the backpack, I lugged my suitcase and backpack down the hall and out the door after locking it behind me.

True to his word, Zacky had all of his and Johnny’s stuff and got everyone outside. I smiled a “thank you” to him, and opened the van doors where Zacky, Jimmy and I flung all of our stuff onto the floor. Everyone piled into the van, with me in the driver’s seat, Matt in the passenger seat, and everyone else in the back.

“Alright everyone. First stop, Haner’s house.”

With grumbles of discontent, I sped the van down the street over to Brian’s house.