Another Day, Another Hotel
Pull Over, I Gotta Throw Up!
"I can't believe the bus broke down," My Chemical Romance's Frank Iero whines. We're at a truck stop in Grand Rapids, Michigan and as aforementioned, their bus blew something. The truck stop mechanic says it will take a shitload of time to fix, time we don't have. We have gigs all the way across to New York. And we don't want to miss our TRL date! Guh.
"We were short buses as it was," our tour manager says. "But I don't think that the other boys will mind having you tag along with them temporarily." He motions over towards our bus.
"No, I guess not," Mike, says sighing. We usually have two buses, whereas My Chemical Romance has one, but as he said, we're having bus shortage problems. "We'll just have to cram together, but it's really not a big deal."
We load all of their shit onto our buses and get going to make the Chicago gig in time. For the ride, we all squeeze into the same bus.
"This reminds me of family vacations," Gerard says looking over to Mikey, his brother.
"Oh, god save us all," I laugh.
"Our vacations were good," Mikey says.
"Not ours," I shake my head. Adrienne laughs.
"Why?" Iero asks.
My band laughs at this obvious question. My Chemical Romance has never met my family, Green Day has.
"Well, first off, there were like, eleventeen of us," I say.
"Eleventeen?"
"Well, six. After a time, my oldest brother-he's twenty-one years older than me- stopped coming because he was old. That bastard."
"Why was that so bad? I mean, you're siblings..." another MCR-ian, Ray says.
"You're an only child, aren't you Ray?" Adie laughs.
"Well," he stammers. We all laugh.
"Okay. We're a special group. Very physical. Like, we'd beat down on a regular basis. I guess more 'violent' than 'physical'," I chuckle. "We we're just kind of mean to each other. I mean, it was the five or six of us, crammed into the back of a station wagon. And it's not like we went anywhere good, it was always just to see family, which all the kids knew wasn't going to be fun, so we we're in a bad mood as it was."
" Didn't your parents intervene?" Ronnie asks laughing. " I have a sister, and my mum would always break it up."
"A sister," I hold up one finger. "I have three. And two brothers. Big difference. I think my parents were just trying to ignore us." I laugh at the horrible, horrible memories. " We got in fights at home all the time, but it's like it was way intensified in that damn station wagon. I think there were blood stains on the farthest back seat from my sister giving my other sister a bloody nose."
"Oh my god," Gerard laughs and holds a fist up to Mikey.
"Oh yeah, I wasn't joking about us being violent! On one trip, my sister wanted the seat I was sitting in- see, we all had specific seats that we had picked and it was going down if you sat in someone's seat. So anyway, I'm in her seat and I won't move. And she's like 'I'm gonna stab you if you don't get out of my seat, Billie Joe!" I mime a stabbing. The bus laughs. " So I'm like, 'Oh yeah?' and she grabs a pencil from my other sister who was drawing or something, and stabs my leg! I'm pretty sure the lead is still in there."
The bus laughs uproariously.
"No," Jason Freese says, not believing that a sister could do that to her little brother.
"Oh yes," I say pulling down my pants to show them the little grey mark in my thigh.
"Oh my god," they all chorus.
"Oh yeah," I sit back down re-buckling my belt. "We were so mean to each other. My one sister Holly always got carsick. Something that's totally not her fault, right? We had to pull over about every forty-five minutes so she could throw up, and we be yelling out the window at her. Like, 'Come on! Hurry up! I don't take that long when I throw up,' that kind of stuff."
The bus laughs again.
"I can see why you hated family trips," Mikey chuckles.
"Yeah. It was pretty bad." I say settling back into Adie's shoulder.
"I still can't believe your parents didn't do anything," Ronnie says.
"They were dealing with each other. My mom is a real nagger," I say. Mike agrees.
"Like this one time, we were on some windy road, my sister was puking all over the place, and so she was in the front seat between them. I'm sure the rest of us were bitching about not getting to ride in the front, that kind of stuff. My mom was nagging at him and my dad looks over at her and just flips her off, right in her face," I flip Adie off in similar manner to illustrate my point.
"Oh my god!" The bus goes silent.
"Oh yeah, and my mother looks straight ahead, and my sister who was up front says she dug her high heel into his foot REALLY hard, to get back at him. And he just took it. The car was silent. I was probably like four or five, and I didn't know what flipping someone off was, so I was like 'What does that mean Anna?' and the kids were like, 'SHHH! Shut up Billie Joe!'"
The bus laughs again.
"We were short buses as it was," our tour manager says. "But I don't think that the other boys will mind having you tag along with them temporarily." He motions over towards our bus.
"No, I guess not," Mike, says sighing. We usually have two buses, whereas My Chemical Romance has one, but as he said, we're having bus shortage problems. "We'll just have to cram together, but it's really not a big deal."
We load all of their shit onto our buses and get going to make the Chicago gig in time. For the ride, we all squeeze into the same bus.
"This reminds me of family vacations," Gerard says looking over to Mikey, his brother.
"Oh, god save us all," I laugh.
"Our vacations were good," Mikey says.
"Not ours," I shake my head. Adrienne laughs.
"Why?" Iero asks.
My band laughs at this obvious question. My Chemical Romance has never met my family, Green Day has.
"Well, first off, there were like, eleventeen of us," I say.
"Eleventeen?"
"Well, six. After a time, my oldest brother-he's twenty-one years older than me- stopped coming because he was old. That bastard."
"Why was that so bad? I mean, you're siblings..." another MCR-ian, Ray says.
"You're an only child, aren't you Ray?" Adie laughs.
"Well," he stammers. We all laugh.
"Okay. We're a special group. Very physical. Like, we'd beat down on a regular basis. I guess more 'violent' than 'physical'," I chuckle. "We we're just kind of mean to each other. I mean, it was the five or six of us, crammed into the back of a station wagon. And it's not like we went anywhere good, it was always just to see family, which all the kids knew wasn't going to be fun, so we we're in a bad mood as it was."
" Didn't your parents intervene?" Ronnie asks laughing. " I have a sister, and my mum would always break it up."
"A sister," I hold up one finger. "I have three. And two brothers. Big difference. I think my parents were just trying to ignore us." I laugh at the horrible, horrible memories. " We got in fights at home all the time, but it's like it was way intensified in that damn station wagon. I think there were blood stains on the farthest back seat from my sister giving my other sister a bloody nose."
"Oh my god," Gerard laughs and holds a fist up to Mikey.
"Oh yeah, I wasn't joking about us being violent! On one trip, my sister wanted the seat I was sitting in- see, we all had specific seats that we had picked and it was going down if you sat in someone's seat. So anyway, I'm in her seat and I won't move. And she's like 'I'm gonna stab you if you don't get out of my seat, Billie Joe!" I mime a stabbing. The bus laughs. " So I'm like, 'Oh yeah?' and she grabs a pencil from my other sister who was drawing or something, and stabs my leg! I'm pretty sure the lead is still in there."
The bus laughs uproariously.
"No," Jason Freese says, not believing that a sister could do that to her little brother.
"Oh yes," I say pulling down my pants to show them the little grey mark in my thigh.
"Oh my god," they all chorus.
"Oh yeah," I sit back down re-buckling my belt. "We were so mean to each other. My one sister Holly always got carsick. Something that's totally not her fault, right? We had to pull over about every forty-five minutes so she could throw up, and we be yelling out the window at her. Like, 'Come on! Hurry up! I don't take that long when I throw up,' that kind of stuff."
The bus laughs again.
"I can see why you hated family trips," Mikey chuckles.
"Yeah. It was pretty bad." I say settling back into Adie's shoulder.
"I still can't believe your parents didn't do anything," Ronnie says.
"They were dealing with each other. My mom is a real nagger," I say. Mike agrees.
"Like this one time, we were on some windy road, my sister was puking all over the place, and so she was in the front seat between them. I'm sure the rest of us were bitching about not getting to ride in the front, that kind of stuff. My mom was nagging at him and my dad looks over at her and just flips her off, right in her face," I flip Adie off in similar manner to illustrate my point.
"Oh my god!" The bus goes silent.
"Oh yeah, and my mother looks straight ahead, and my sister who was up front says she dug her high heel into his foot REALLY hard, to get back at him. And he just took it. The car was silent. I was probably like four or five, and I didn't know what flipping someone off was, so I was like 'What does that mean Anna?' and the kids were like, 'SHHH! Shut up Billie Joe!'"
The bus laughs again.