Have Faith in Me

After my little performance with the guys, I found myself taking turns with all of the bands on main stage on doing a song with each of them. I still took more than enough photos of the guys like I was supposed to.

Matt was particularly fond of me being on stage with each of the bands each night because it gave him a chance to hear me sing. I kept telling him I wasn’t even that good and he always argued that he begged to differ.

“Put that camera down!” Zacky yelled, his mouth full of pizza. I snickered as I took another picture of him. “Rachel…” I feigned innocence as I held my camera in one hand.

“I’m not doing anything at all, Zachary,” I told him.

“What’s going on that you’re calling Zack Zachary?” Johnny asked as he came into the lounge area of the bus. We were headed towards Wisconsin. We were all keeping an eye out for a place to eat because we really wanted something to eat.

“He’s threatening me!” I immediately shouted, pointing at him. Zacky stared at me in shock.

“Am not! She’s taking pictures of me while I’m eating!” he countered, mimicking my gesture and pointing at me. I pretended to gasp dramatically.

“And I thought we were close enough that I could take pictures of you while you eat.” I sniffed loudly, trying not to laugh.

“Rachel, you don’t understand!” He spoke in an overdramatic voice, clearly going along with our little melodrama.

“Someone get the popcorn. The soap is getting good,” Brian stage whispered.

“No, Zachary! You don’t understand. You never did and you never will!” I tossed one glance at Zacky and his emerald eye caught mine. We immediately collapsed into laughter, Johnny and Brian laughing with us.

“What is going on? Are you guys high or something?” Matt said when he saw all of us on the floor, laughing our asses off.

“Sorry. They might’ve ate the brownies,” Mike joked. Matt laughed at the drummer’s joke. “I thought I labeled them my brownies.”

“We are not high, guys,” I giggled once my laughing had started to ease. Johnny, Brian, and Zacky were still cracking up though. I looked at them before starting to laugh once more.

“Remind me again why I decided to tour with you guys?” I heard Mike say.

“Because you want memories like these?” Matt chuckled. I stood up, swaying slightly from having sat down for awhile now. Still laughing a little, I glanced out the window.

“Hey, guys, there’s a Mexican place coming up,” I said.

“Thank God. I’m starving,” Zacky said, still laughing a little.

“You were just eating pizza!”

“I am a man, woman! I need my food!” I rolled my eyes as the bus slowed to a stop as we reached the restaurant. We clambered out the car.

“Table for six,” Matt requested when we entered the restaurant. The hostess looked over the guys, taking in their slightly intimidating appearances.

“This way,” she said, leading us to our table. She sat us towards the back of the small restaurant and handed us our menus. After taking down what we would drink, she left to let us go over the menus.

“I think I’ll go with the tacos,” I decided, looking at the other dishes offered.

“Be adventurous, Rach!” Brian said. “Try something you haven’t before.”

“How about tacos de lengua?”

“I guess that’s adventurous enough,” Johnny mused. “As for me, I’m going for the enchiladas.” The rest of the guys chose what they wanted and our waitress came by to get our orders. We ate and talked, enjoying our lunch. An hour later we had cleared our plates- in the guys’ case, two plates- and were headed out.

“I’m gonna go lie down,” I told Matt once the bus was moving again. He nodded and gave me a quick kiss. I climbed into my bunk and closed my eyes for a nap.

Two hours later, I was jumping out of my bunk and running for the bathroom.

“Oh God,” I heard someone mutter at the doorway. Calloused hands brushed my neck as they pulled my hair away from my face. The contents of my stomach emptied into the white dish until I started dry heaving. I collapsed against the side of the bowl once I finished. A wet towel wiped the sweat off my face. I looked up and saw Matt tossing the towel to the side. “Feeling all right?” he asked, his voice laced with concern. I shook my head, feeling nauseous from that slight movement.

“I think it was those tacos,” I said weakly.

“What’s going on?” Zacky asked, pausing outside the bathroom. His emerald eyes looked concerned as he looked me over.

“I think Rach has food poisoning,” Matt told him.

“But the rest of us don’t.”

“She was the only one to eat tacos.”

“That’s what you get for not being adventurous!” Matt tossed him a glare. “Want me to do anything?” Zacky offered, cowering under Matt’s glare.

“Just tell the guys to be careful when they’re moving around the bus and not to bug Rachel.” The rhythm guitarist nodded before disappearing from the doorway. “Come on. Let’s get you back in bed so you can sleep,” Matt sighed. He carefully lifted me in his arms, carrying my bridal style back to the bunks. He laid me in his bunk. “Call me or one of the guys if you need anything, alright?” I nodded before closing my eyes and going back to sleep.

I felt a hand brush the hair out of my face. I opened my eyes slowly, unaware of what time it was. The bus was rumbling, signaling we were still on the road. I turned to see who was touching me and my eyes connected with a pair of hazel eyes.

“Just checking to see if you had a fever. Go back to sleep,” he whispered as he kissed my forehead.

“I’ve been sleeping all day. I wanna be awake for a few minutes,” I told him. I scooted over and patted the space next to me. He crawled into the space, wrapping his arm around me and being careful not to hold me to tight. “How long have I been sleeping?”

“Pretty much all day. You would wake up to dry heave a couple of times. Everyone’s asleep right now.” His hand grazed my side lightly. “Are you feeling any better?” I shrugged.

“A little. I don’t feel nauseous anymore.” Matt kissed my forehead again and I scooted closer to him, closing my eyes.