A Smile for Your Scrapbooks

“Vinny are we ready to pack up?” I asked stretching my arms up while leaning back in the chair that I was sitting in. I worked for a band called All Time Low and what I did for them was sell their sometimes inappropriate merchandise to teen aged girls. I was sort of new to the team. I had been with them for only half of their tour the year before and in all honestly I loved the job. Ever since I was a teenager I thought it would be so cool to be touring and seeing the world. I just never pictured it the way I was living it now. I was hoping to be a manager of a band or something sometime, but being a merch girl was actually ridiculously fun and I fully enjoy every minute of it at the moment.

“Yeah seems like that was the last of the kids. Thank fucking god. I am ready for a drink.” Vinny smiled as he started to close up boxes. I got up and took the sample shirts down and put them where they belonged. It was a quick and easy clean up.
I picked up the last of the boxes finally and started to head out when I saw Evan Kirkendall, All Time Low’s sound tech and also my one of bestest friends so far on the team. I smiled at him and tried to give him a wave, but it didn’t work. I ended up dropping the box spilling everything in it out onto the ground.

“Mother fucker” I groaned as I bent down to start picking up shirts that said Nothing Personal on them. When I saw hands come down beside me I expected it to be Evan helping me, but it wasn’t. I looked up and saw Alex Gaskarth.

“Oh, thanks Alex” I said with a smile as I scooped some more shirts back into the box.

“Bailey, next time you’re drooling over nerdy Evan try not to wave when carrying a big box of shirts,” Alex laughed giving me a wink.

“Thank you for the advice, but I was not drooling over Evan,” I assured, “We’re only friends.”

“With benefits?” Alex asked suspiciously, “If so you guys are good at hiding it I would have never known.”

“No! Holy shit, no!” I yelled my eyes big.

“Calm down, calm down I was only joking Bailey” he said patting my back as he threw in the last couple shirts into the box, “Come on the bus later everyone is getting together and we’re going to go out somewhere since it’s the first day of tour here.”

“Alex, I don’t really do night clubs if that’s what you guys had in mind” I called after him, but he didn’t answer.

These guys knew Baltimore like the back of their hands which means they knew every party animal place around. If that was the case I did not want to be a part of that tonight. Although, usually when something like that would come up in the end I’d go anyway and have a fantastic time. The only bad thing was the enormous hangover I would have the next day and lack of remembering things. They might party a little too hard for me sometimes, but I go with it anyway.

When I was finished storing the last of the boxes into the side of the bus I hopped up onboard. I noticed that there was absolutely no one on the bus yet and that made me wonder if there was something I should be doing at the moment. As I was trying to think Jack Barakat came on the bus jumping around and singing a Jack’s Mannequin song. As he sung the last line of the song he looked at me and caressed my face. I couldn’t look him in the eye it was hard enough to try and keep my laughter back.

“Beautiful Jack, just beautiful” I laughed shagging up his hair. Then I stuck my tongue out and wiped my hand on his shoulder. I had forgotten all about him having a sweaty head from jumping around onstage.

“Bailey are you ready for a good time,” Jack asked and just as I was about to say something he added, “In ma beeeed!”

“I would prefer it if I not be crammed inside that little bunk with you thank you very much.” I smiled.

“Fine, I’ll call the nearest motel,” he said, “Or do you have class and want a hotel?”

“What kind of girl do you take me as? I have class Jack.” I assured with a nod.
“Hotel it is.” He winked jokingly and then walked past me into the bathroom. I cracked up laughing to myself while shaking my head. It was never a dull moment with that boy. Then when I finally finished laughing to myself I saw Evan get on the bus.

“EVAN!” I shouted throwing my arms in the air.

“BAILEY!” he shouted back giving me a big hug.

Then Alex walked by with a devious smile and fake coughed “Benefits.”

I looked at him and he threw his hands up as if saying ‘had to’, but he gave me a quick wink before turning and going toward the back of the bus where the bunks were. I rolled my eyes and Evan let go of me.

“You all ready to go?” Evan asked me.

“Yeah, but where are we going? Cuz if it’s a club I’m not sure I’m up to it. I’m not feeling so well.” I lied.

“I’m pretty sure we’re going to some bar to watch the Ravens game tonight so no worries.” he said. I nodded and sighed in relief. I didn’t want to get wasted first day of tour. I’ll let that happen a couple more dates in.

Evan and I hung out for the remainder of the time until finally everyone was gathered up by the front of the bus. Apparently we were going to be walking to the bar since it was pretty close to the venue. So with that being said most of the guys who were all from Baltimore, even Evan, had on their Raven jersey and were ready for a good game. I on the other hand had an Eagles jersey on like Matt Flyzik. I was a Philly girl and proud of it. The Eagles weren’t playing tonight, but Matt and I agreed that we should wear them to show our disapproval of the Ravens and to just really piss the guys off.

When we at last got to the bar, turns out it was farther then they thought, the game was just starting. Alex ordered a free round of beers on him as his eyes were instantly glued to the big TV screen in the corner of the room. During the course of the night there was a lot of yelling and cheering and drinking. Especially me, I drank a lot, I had nothing better to do and the bartender just kept them coming when finally I started to notice I was getting a bit of a buzz.

“Hey, what happened to ‘I’m not feeling so well’” Evan laughed while trying to imitate my voice.

“He’s keepin them coming so I’m not complaining, plus I’m fine, I’m not drunk,” I said, “This stuff is making me better.”

“If you say so,” Evan smiled with a shrug and turned back to the TV.

Then a little more than half way through the game I must have over done it on the beers because what I did next pissed all the guys off. I walked right up to that big flat screen and changed the channel. I kept pressing the up button to look for anything that looked good while the guys yelled things at me.

“NO! Bailey you put it back!” Alex shouted.

“No I don’t want to! I’m done watching the stupid game. The Ravens can kiss my little white girl ass!” I shouted back turning around and smacking my own butt.

“Oh that’s it,” Alex said as he got up and came toward me. I blocked the TV with my arms stretched out as I shouted, “No!”

“Yes!” he yelled back as he tried to get around me. He was about to press the down button when I smacked his hand away. Then he grabbed me and pulled me into a big tight hug that I couldn’t get out of. I heard the TV changing as he rapidly started changing the channel.

“Not fair!” I whined. Fortunately I was able to somehow turn around in his grasp, his arm still around my waist, and stretch my hand out to press the channel up button. He was not going to win this.

I heard the rest of the guys behind me some cheering Alex on some cheering me on. The channels were going crazy and soon we lost sight of what channel the football game was even playing on. A couple minutes later Alex and I were throwing slaps at each other and running around the bar like a bunch of idiots. I noticed the bartender had a ‘been here seen that’ look on his face as he sighed. His hand went under the bar and he pulled out a remote.

“Don’t you dare!” I shouted pointing to him as I ran to him and grabbed the remote out of his hand. Next thing I knew though I was on the ground and Alex sitting on top of me ripping the remote out of grasp. When he finally pried if from my fingers he put his victory fists in the air and put the game back on.

“WHAT A PLAY! ONE TO REMEMBER IN THE RAVENS HISTORY!” the announcer yelled clearly amazed and overwhelmed.

“FUCK!” Alex shouted he looked down as me and said, “I can’t believe you!”
“I try my best,” I giggled.

“Nooo,” he whined getting off of me. I got up and patted him on the back and gave him a hug. I then happily bounced into a seat next to Matt. He gave me a high five and beer for my attempt in changing the game.

--------------------------------------------

I woke up with a bit of a headache, but nothing that I couldn’t handle for the rest of the day. I looked up at the ceiling of the tour bus and realized it wasn’t a hotel room ceiling. Why didn’t I ever leave for the hotel like I was supposed to last night? I couldn’t remember. Wait, did Jack and I really . . . no, we couldn’t have.

I quickly sat up and regretted it because my head started to hurt more. I looked and saw that I had been sleeping on the couch with a blanket on top of me, alone, and still with my clothes on from last night. I looked around some more and let it sink in that I had slept on the tour bus over night; I was so use to having a hotel room to myself every night. I let my gaze go over to a window and saw trees whizzing by on the highway.

Then next thing I knew I was up in the air, my arms and legs flaying about. As I came back down I hit the couch and rolled onto the floor.

“Shit! You can’t drive!” I shouted to whoever was behind the wheel. Then I remembered Rian had told me one time that Jack was a terrible driver and it wasn’t often they let him drive the bus. If Jack was driving though didn’t that mean we were all going to die? He was wasted like me last night. That I clearly remember. I remember him dancing on top of a table and taking his shirt off because the Ravens won. I got pulled from my thoughts of last night when someone called, “Sorry!”

It didn’t sound like Jack, curious as to whom it was I got up and went to see who it was. When I got to the passenger’s seat I sat and looked to see Matt with his eyes dead focused on the road.

“And they said Jack was a bad driver,” I joked.

“Oh, Bailey, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to hit that bump it came out of nowhere.” Matt explained.
“It’s alright. Didn’t hurt too much.” I said, “Just don’t let it happen again Matty.”

“Come on why do you have to call me Matty?” he whined.

“It’s better than Matty Mouse isn’t it?” I giggled.

“I’ll take Matty over that for sure.” He nodded.

We fell into silence just for a bit as Matt concentrated on the road. I could tell he wasn’t much of a driver on highways, but he did it anyway.

“Where are we even headed to?” I asked.

“Uptown Amphitheatre!” he shouted and then he hunched down and covered his mouth, “Woops hope I didn’t wake anyone.”

I laughed and shook my head, “I could go check.”

“You know you could be bad like you were last night and just wake them all up.”
“Wake everyone up? How the hell am I supposed to do that?”

“Well, what I like to do is go in the kitchen and in the bottom left drawer there should be a pot and a spoon and,” he paused and looked at me deviously, “I’m sure you can guess what comes next.”

“Oh I don’t know if I should do that.” I mumbled, “I’m sure they are already pissed at me from last night.”

“Bailey you need to lighten up sometimes, other than when you’re drinking. Plus I need them to be up now anyway we are going to be there in an hour.”

“Well, ok, I’m already in deep shit with them” I sighed. I walked over to the kitchen where there were lots of empty bottles and cups lying about. Before I went in the drawer to grab what I needed I turned and asked Matt, “How are you sober?”

“What do you mean?”

“Everyone last night was so wasted how are you ok? I remember you acting like a complete idiot like the others.”

“Thank you for call me an idiot,” he smiled, “I had a few beers, but I made sure I didn’t get drunk I knew I had to drive. I was just being an idiot to be one.”

I nodded my head and then went into the drawer with the pot and spoon. I bit my lip as I looked at them in my hands. Then I looked back at Matt and he gave me another quick glance and a nod with a smile. I gave a small smile then looked back at the pot and spoon and a bigger smile grew on my face. I hit the pot as hard as I could with the big spoon over and over again. I laughed and shouted, “Come on get up you wasted bastards!”

When I stopped my own head was pounding from my hangover and someone yelled, “FUCK FLYZIK!” and another yelled “FUCK YOU MATT.” And a “Matt I’m going to fucking KILL you man.” And lastly “DAMNIT MATT I HAVE A HANGOVER YOU ARE NOT HELPING.”

My eyes widened as I looked back at Matt and he said, “I may have done it a couple hundred times before you and they may really want to strangle me really badly by now. But don’t worry they won’t you’re a girl….. then again last night…..”

“Damnit Matty. I’m going to get you back for this!” I sighed.

I looked back at the narrow hallway and saw Alex come out in nothing but underwear scratching his head while looking down.

“Damnit Matt I swear I am going to throw those pots out one day and give a picture out to every single fucking store in the whole fucking world and tell them not to sell you any fucking pots.” Alex groaned rubbing his eyes now. That’s when I accidently dropped the big pot on my foot and yelped.

Alex stopped rubbing his eyes and looked at me confused. He opened his mouth to say something, but then shut it. I looked down embarrassed, I did not need to see this.
“You don’t mind right?” He finally said and hung-overly stumbled toward the couch.

“Kinda I mean I’m not exactly ‘one of the guys’” I said awkwardly looking around. As he nodded his head saying “riiiight” I turned around and took a seat next to Matt again.

“He come out in his underwear?” Matt laughed.

“Yes.” I said covering my red face.

“We’ll just for future reference if you ever spend another night here they always walk around like that in the morning.” Matt informed.

“I rather they not when I’m here.” I laughed.

“Yeah, they probably won’t if you ask, but I mean you’re a girl they aren’t that stupid and inconsiderate around girls like some people think so I’m sure they will be fine with it.”

After a couple of minute later Alex came back out with a tee shirt and jeans on and stopped looking down at me. I looked up and said, “Is there something that you need?”

“I need a seat.” He whined, “move!”

“I’m not moving I’m comfy!” I replied. Then he just plopped down on top of me.

“You’re pretty comfortable.” Alex nodded in approval.

“Get off! Ow! Circulation! I need circulation!” I shouted trying to push him off. In one swift movement he got up, pulled me out of my seat, sat down, and pulled me on his lap sideways.

“Ah, that’s better. I get an even comfier seat and your legs aren’t going to fall off.” Alex smiled.

“I don’t want to sit on you.” I whined.

“Too bad.” He shrugged and when I tried to get up he pushed me back down on his lap until finally I huffed out a, “fine.”

“I’ve got a question for you Bailey,” Alex said as I turned my head to look at him, “how come I’ve never talked to you this much before on other tours?”

“Uh, I don’t know, that’s just how it ended up?” I said.

“Well I don’t understand because you seem like a pretty awesome person.”

“You didn’t think I was awesome last night” I mumbled.

“What happened last nig--” he paused and thought, “WAIT A MINUTE!”

I scratched the back of my head and bit my lip.

“You made us miss the best play ever! YOU!” he shouted poking his finger in my face.

“I’m sorry! I was drunk! And I didn’t want to watch that dumb game.” I stated crossing my arms over my chest.

“What you did was brave.” Matt finally spoke up as he looked at us real quick, “Wait, bailey why are you Alex’s lap?”

“Matt we went over that a long time ago. Go back to driving.” Alex said sticking his tongue out at him.

He turned back to me and then said, “I don’t want you on my lap anymore. You’re not allowed. Up! Get up! My lap will forever be Bailey free!”

“Fine” I pouted and got up then looked back at him, “The Ravens suck.”

Alex whipped his head back to look at me. He got up and ran after me, full speed.