And Along Came You

"1, 2…" Angela counted down; the two of us hand in hand and our toes curling over the pool's edge. It was "the calm before the storm" as Matt had put it earlier. Today was our day of settling into our hotel and making sure everything was in order for tomorrow, the kickoff show for our summer of firsts. It was one big mesh of scary and exhilarating.

"Three!"

I lurched forward, both Angela and I plunging down into the lukewarm water. Bubbles swarmed around our bodies, clinging to our skin as we thrashed about. I kicked off the pool's floor and shot through the surface, finding the two cackling boys who pushed us in.

"What the fuck Matt!" Angela spat, furiously sending a wave of water shooting up in his direction. He quickly jumped back, still clutching his stomach as he continued gasping for air. Andrew was nearly in tears.

"It was his idea!" Matt pointed to Andrew who looked thoroughly pleased with himself. A smug grin was plastered across his face.

"So you think you're funny do ya?" I narrowed my eyes at Andrew.

"Oh I'm hilarious!" he chuckled.

"Oh yeah? Bet you won't be laughing when I come up there and kick your ass," I threatened, wading towards the ladder. I quickly climbed out and darted towards Andrew. He ran circles around Matt and took off for the other end of the indoor pool. "Oh come on! Face me like a man Ross!" I called after him, still chasing after him like an attack dog. I was a fairly decent track and field runner during my freshman and sophomore years of high school. I could run this boy down any day.

"Hey!" someone called out. "No running!"

"Yeah don't you read the signs kiddies?" another voice said. I paused long enough to see that Alex and Jack and a few members of their crew had joined us. I was about to say hi to them when I felt myself being scooped up and thrown over Andrew's shoulders.

Dammit! I mentally shouted. I am way too easily distracted.

With me hanging down his back Andrew jumped back into the pool, his arms still clinging around my waist as we emerged from the water. I playfully kicked and splashed him, trying to free myself from his grip. He only laughed at my fruitless attempts and held me tighter.

"Let's keep it PG okay kids?" Alex smirked as he and Jack came closer to the edge. Andrew finally released me and I swam over to the ladder again and climbed out. I walked over to one of the lounge chairs and grabbed a white towel, wrapping it around my sopping body. Lying back on the chair, I pressed the back of my hand to my forehead and exhaled gruffly.

"Hey why are you sitting here all sad looking?" I looked up to see Jack towering over me. I sat up straighter and turned to him as he took a seat on the chair next to me.

"I'm not sad," I mustered up a smile.

"You look troubled," he pressed on. Why was it just my life that Jack kept trying to pry into?

"Nothing's wrong with me," I reassured him, hoping I sounded convincing enough. "Just a lot of things on my mind."

"Like what?"

I scratched my head and smoothed my damp hair back and out of my face. I wanted to tell somebody what was going on in my mind. I needed to let it all out and have someone tell me that it wasn't as big a deal as I was making it out to be. But I barely knew Jack and I was just a stranger to him. He wasn't the one I should be spilling my guts to. Besides, he was only curious, it's not as if he really cared at all. Still, I found myself opening my mouth to speak.

"Uh…my mom," I finally confessed. "I didn't really tell her about the whole tour thing…and she still hasn't heard from me."

"So…call her?" he suggested, his voice sounding a little confused. Like I never thought of that one. It was such a simple solution, but for me to act upon it made it seem much more complex. I had turned my phone off before our flight took off and was too scared to turn it back on. There was no doubt that my mom had already come home to an empty house and figured out that I wasn't coming home. I was also certain that I had a multitude of missed calls and worried or possibly angry voicemails waiting for me. Man I could be such a coward.

"Yeah, I figured I should do that, but I'm afraid…" I trailed off, not really wanting to talk about it anymore. I felt dumb now for saying anything.

"How could you be afraid of your own mom?" he asked with a stupid grin on his face as he laughed. I shrugged. How could I be afraid of my mom? I mean, what was the worst she could do? Tell me to come home? Then again, that really was the worst possible thing she could do.

"I just don't want to disappoint her…" I mumbled, looking down at my feet. Jack placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"Well you seem like a pretty cool girl, Melanie, and if your mom is anything like you then I'm sure there's nothing to be worried about," he said and I felt my cheeks burn slightly at his words.

"Thanks Jack," I smiled, looking up at him.

"Any time Mel-Mel," he winked before standing up and hurrying back over to the pool to jump in, splashing water in every direction.

***
"Hello Orlando! You're looking beautiful tonight!" my voice amplified into the fairly good sized arena that was now stuffed to its capacity with screaming teenagers. I hadn’t gotten much sleep from the night before. I was up all night staring at my phone, debating whether I should call home or not. The latter argument had won. My energy, however, was replenished the second I stepped foot on the stage and the bright lights hit my face. All the nerves that had been eating away at me for the past few days instantly vanished and there were no more second thoughts or fears going through my mind. It was just the crowd and me.

"Now you may not have heard of us before, we are Stones For Grace!" the audience cheered, getting sucked into the hype. It didn't even matter to them that they had no idea who we were and probably never even heard of us before. I smirked and grabbed the mic again, bringing it close to my lips. "Are you ready to have a good time tonight?"

The audience roared in response and I glanced over to Matt on my right and then to Angela on my left. They each gave me a small, knowing grin. It was like we were all connected—on the same wavelength. The music started up and I began to sing the first lines of one of our songs. The crowd seemed to hang onto my every word. It was as if the music entranced them and I was the one in control. It was the best fucking feeling.

After a few more songs we bid our audience goodnight and left the stage for All Time Low's crew to start setting up for their set. Taking a seat on one of the ratty couches in our dressing room, I couldn't stop thinking about the conversation with Jack I had the night before.

"You have nothing to be worried about," he had said. It kept repeating in my mind like a mantra. Sitting there idly while I heard All Time Low starting their set in the background, I started to believe Jack's words were true. I walked over to the little backpack I'd brought into the venue with me and fished through it for my phone. When I found it, I pulled it out and turned it on. As I had feared, it buzzed and buzzed with text message and voicemail notifications and missed calls. All of which were of course from one person. Mom.

Taking a deep breath I dialed the number I knew so well and pressed the phone to my ear. Listening to the ringback go on and on was the most excruciating thing I had ever been put through. To my luck (or maybe misfortune) I eventually got the answering machine. I waited for the message to play and the beep to sound before I spoke.

"Hey Mom…it's me…Melanie. I um…you're probably worried, wondering where I am and everything. I know I should have left a note or called sooner, but I was afraid you would freak out. I'm with the band and we're in Orlando right now. We're kind of opening for All Time Low on their tour. You remember them right? I went to a few of their shows awhile ago…anyway we're all fine so there's no need to worry…" I rambled on, my voice shaking as I spoke. I paused awkwardly, not knowing what else to say. "Well, call me back when you get this. I love you, bye."

I breathed a heavy sigh of relief. It felt so incredible to have that weight off my back. I wasn't sure what her reaction would be and I was already dreading the phone call back, but it made me feel a little better to not be keeping secrets anymore. Everything was out in the open now and all I could do was cross my fingers and pray that it would all work out.

***
Music was blaring and people who had a little too much to drink were dancing and messing around on the tightly packed All Time Low bus. It was first night of tour and what better way to really kick it off than with a party? I had lost Angela and Matt in the shuffle, but I wasn't too worried. They were around somewhere. With me was Andrew and we were doing it up, dancing like two fools in the middle of the front lounge. I didn’t care how weird we looked or how crazy we were acting, even without any alcohol. The people surrounding us were just as bad if not worse.

I still hadn't gotten a call back from my mom which worried me a little. All my confidence had drained out in that one phone call and I didn't think I would be able to muster up the courage to try again. Besides, I said what I had to say. Now it was all just a waiting game.

"Space case!" Andrew's voice snapped me back to the present. We were still in the middle of the lounge moving against each other. It was all innocent though. I looked up at him, catching his prying gaze. He was trying to guess what was going on in my head. When it came to our friendship, we read each other fairly well. We told each other everything and never held back. "What's going on?"

"Nothing." I brushed off the question. I would talk to him about it later. Right now I wanted to focus on having a good time. He didn't look too convinced but nodded anyway understandingly. As the minutes rolled by the party got rowdier and I was finding it hard to catch my breath in the small space we were in. I told Andrew I was going to look for Angela and hurriedly exited the front lounge. My search so far was unsuccessful, but as I walked further down the aisle I did find someone.

"Hey Mel-Mel!" Jack smiled, his speech slurred a bit. From all the rumors I had heard about the members of All Time Low and their partying, I found it very hard to believe that at this point Jack was still, for the most part, sober.

"Hey Jack," I said, my eyes still darting around the space for a glimpse of Angela.

"Looking for something?" he asked, glancing behind him so he could see what it was I was looking at or trying to look for. I decided my search was pretty useless now and gave up, giving my full attention to Jack. He turned back to me and smiled. "So what do you think?"

I cocked my head to the side curiously. "Think about what?"

"The first show?" he replied as if it were obvious what he had implied.

"Oh, right. It was incredible! By the middle of our set the crowd was going nuts. I think we really won them over," I gushed and suddenly felt embarrassed. I couldn't hide how excited it made me. It was like running down the stairs on Christmas morning when you were little and finding a mountain of colorfully wrapped boxes swarming the tree. It was magical.

"Yeah I caught some of your set. You really know how to work your audience."

I was beaming. Jack shifted on his side, a more serious look coming over his face. "So did you call your mom?" he asked. I was surprised he had even remembered our conversation.

"Yeah," I nodded. His lips turned up in a small smile.

"That's awesome?"

"Not really…she didn't pick up," I said dejectedly and the smile on his face fell. "I left her a message though so she knows where I am."

"Well see? It's not all that bad!" Jack tried to perk me up. It was working. The music seemed to be getting louder and the people even crazier than before—which I didn't think was possible.

"You wanna?" I asked, gesturing to the drunken and clumsy dancing people behind us. He shrugged and took my hand, leading me into the back lounge. There I finally found Angela who was having her own fun with Zack. She was clearly loaded and I knew just who would be the one stuck nursing her hangover the next morning. Poor Matt.

I pushed thoughts of the next morning out of my mind and refocused on Jack who was standing before me flailing around, moving his body out of time with the music. I laughed at him and when he noticed, he grabbed my wrists and began twisting me around with him.

***
When I woke up, I felt hot and sticky. The air was stale and I was still in my clothes from the night before. Thankfully I hadn't drunk myself into oblivion and other than having the gross feeling that I really needed a shower, I was fine. I slowly sat up and rubbed my eyes. When I opened them I found myself still in the back lounge of All Time Low's bus. I wasn't alone though. On the floor was an unconscious Matt who for some reason was only clad in his black skinny jeans and nothing else.

Someone had a good night, I smirked. I got to my feet and cracked my back. Everyone else must have either still been sleeping or off somewhere else because the bus was quiet. I walked out from the back and made my way up towards the front where the kitchenette was. Sitting down with a bowl of cereal in his lap was Jack. When he heard me walk in he looked up and grinned.

"Well, well look who’s still here."

My cheeks reddened slightly. Matt and I were supposed to be in our hotel rooms. "Hey."

"Hungry?" he asked and pointed out where the cereal was stored. I found a box of Fruit Loops and poured myself a bowl, deciding to eat it dry. "No milk?" he asked his eyes wide with surprise. "That's barbaric!"

I rolled my eyes and cracked a smile as I took a seat next to him, picking at the colorful rings. "Sorry for taking over the back by the way," I said. He took another spoonful of cereal and shook his head.

"Nah it's fine we don't really care. We like having some fresh meat on this bus. It's always…interesting."

"I swear, I better not have a dick sharpied on my forehead—" I said half seriously and Jack burst into laughter.

"No, no I wouldn't do that to you," he said and he seemed to be sincere.

"Mhm," I hummed skeptically and took another dry spoonful of Fruit Loops.

"So you looked like you were having fun last night. You and Andrew are…pretty close huh?" Jack asked and I noticed his eyes flicker down to the floor at the last part.

"Um yeah, he's like my big brother. We're best friends."

"Oh seriously?" he asked seeming genuinely surprised. "I thought you two were dating or something…"

I almost spit out my cereal. "Seriously?" I half laughed, half choked. "Oh God no."

He smiled and shrugged. "Okay, if you say so."

We started talking about other things like upcoming shows and then down to the little things like what our favorite movies were and what music we listened to. Jack was extremely easy to talk to. I didn't even feel like I was talking to "Jack Barakat" from "All Time Low". He was just Jack.

"All right next question," Jack said, shifting his body so that we were both facing each other now.

"Shoot."

"Are you ever going to tell me about your list?"

I paused for a moment and thought it over. "Do you remember anything that was on it?" I asked contemplatively.

"Uh maybe a few things?" he said, scratching the back of his head.

"Well I'll tell ya what. Help me cross off something from it and I'll tell you everything."

"Is this a promise?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Think of it more as a business proposition," I replied and held out my hand to him. He took it and shook.

"Deal.”