Resistance Is Useless

9.
Andy

I sat in the front lounge with my headphones in, looking out the window as we drove through the streets of some east coast city. We were 10 days into the tour, and it was becoming hard to distinguish one city from the next. Today was the first off day of the tour, and considering the All Time Low band and crew was made up entirely of guys with the exception of myself, it would probably be spent playing some kind of sport.
I changed the song on my iPod, and glanced up at Jack who was sitting on the other couch. Our eyes met for a moment, but he quickly looked away, embarrassed. I looked back out the window for a moment, and then looked back at him out of the corner of my eye, to see him gazing at me. This was definitely not the first time this had happened. There were several moments a day when I would look up to see Jack’s eyes following me, and he always had a slight smile on his face. Looking at me was apparently one of his hobbies.

Before long, we were pulling into a park with a big, open field, and a swing-set underneath the shade of a large tree near the entrance. I planned to head straight for that swing set and watch everyone play football from a safe distance.
I stepped down from the bus and turned in the direction of the swing set, the opposite direction everyone else was heading.
“And where do you think you’re going?” Jack called from behind me.
“Swings.” I yelled back to him, continuing to walk towards the small playground.
“You don’t wanna play?” he asked, taking a few steps in my direction.
“Nah, I’ll just watch.” I yelled, my back still turned to him.
“Well, I’ll watch with you then,” he said, running to catch up with me.
Jack and I sat on the swings, talking and laughing, watching everyone play football in the field. He told me all about the crazy, stupid things him, Alex, Rian and Zack used to do when they were in high school. I was laughing so hard I could barely stay on my swing, so we moved onto the grass. Jack laid down with his hands behind his head and closed his eyes as the sun shined brightly on his face. I laid down perpendicular to him and rested my head on his stomach.
“So Andifer—” Jack said once I was settled.
“ ’S not my name,” I interjected.
“…Tell me about yourself,”
“What do you wanna know?” I asked.
“I dunno, everything. How about what your boyfriend’s name is?” He asked.
“Well… his name WAS Dustin,” I sighed
“Dustin?” Jack repeated, slightly irritated, “That’s a douchey name. Wait, did you say ‘was’?” His face lit up.
“Yeah…Why?” I said inquisitively, raising an eyebrow.
“No reason,” he answered a little too quickly, “Sorry, go on,”
“Hm. I don’t really wanna talk about it, and it’s a long story. But basically I caught him cheating, then he said it was my fault, and kicked me out of our apartment…” I trailed off, realizing how pathetic the whole thing sounded.
“Ouch. I guess he lived up to his name then…”
“Oh yeah,”
“But, if he was such a douche, why were you with him? I mean, you obviously have better taste in men than that, just look at me!” I rolled my eyes.
“Well, he wasn’t always like that. He was great when we started dating, but I guess I ‘wasn’t enough for him’ or some shit like that. It doesn’t matter though. Honestly, it’s probably for the better that things ended between us. And I feel like even if I hadn’t caught him cheating, we still would have broken up, just for a different reason...”
“Yeah, that’s probably true,” Jack agreed, sighing. “So where are you residing these days?” he said, changing the subject.
“Um… well, I used to live in Baltimore, in a 2 bed, 2 bath apartment, with a gym, and a pool,” I said sadly, remembering what used to be my amazing apartment, “But as of right now, I don’t know,”
“You’re homeless?” Jack asked, surprised.
“Yeah, I guess. Dustin kicked me out. But I’ll probably just stay with my friend Grace for a while ‘til I can find a new apartment, so I’m not completely homeless, but no, I don’t have my own place right now,”
“Well, you know, you have all of tour to figure things out, but I have an extra bed at my place. It’s yours if you need it,” He offered.
“Thanks, Jack,” I smiled, squeezing his hand, ”That’s really nice of you! But I think I’ll be ok. I’ll figure something out. ” I sighed.
“Alright, but just remember it’s there if you ever need it,”
“Don’t worry, I will. But can we talk about something else. This is stressing me out,”
“Sure, sure,” Jack said as he patted my head lightly. As if on queue, the repetitive music of an ice cream truck sounded in the distance.
“Holy shit! Ice cream!” Jack yelled as he jumped to his feet, letting my head hit the ground. “Come on Andy!” Jack said as he pulled me to me up, because I was apparently too slow for him. He grabbed my hand and led me towards the street corner where kids were lining up in front of the ice cream truck.
“Jack, were the oldest people here by at least 15 years,” I laughed as I leaned my head into his shoulder. The kids in front of us walked away with their ice cream as Jack and I stepped forward, his hand still around mine.