What Separates Me From You

July 4th: On The Road, USA

The next morning woke up in an unfamiliar place. I was lying on my back in a small crawlspace with a curtain on the side that wasn’t a hole. My body bounced suddenly; am I on a bus? Voices just outside the curtain started to converse, making my head hurt by their loudness. I groaned and collapsed back down. The voices stopped and the curtain was opened.

“Oh hey, you’re up,” said a smiling Jeremy. A lidded Styrofoam cup was in hand, it smelled deliciously of coffee.

“Jeremy?” I asked squinting from the light that poured into my space when he pulled the curtain back. My hand shielded my eyes with my hand. “Where am I?”

Jeremy’s eye brows rose at my question, “You don’t remember what happened last night?”

I frowned at him, not understanding. Then shock hit me, “Oh my God, did we? Did we have… sex?”

Jeremy laughed at me, “No.”

“Well then what happened?”

Jeremy composed himself, “Well, you ran off and I ran after you to make sure you were ok. I found you passed out a few feet away from our bus. So, with great difficulty, I brought you to our bus and let you sleep in my bunk bed.”

I glanced around at the crawlspace I was in. This was a bed?

“Why was I running from?” I asked, still not remembering.

Jeremy pursed his lips and avoided my gaze. He had suddenly gone quiet, “You really don’t remember?”

“No…” I said carefully, afraid of what he might tell me. “I only remember a few things. I remember karaoke and you calling me Olive Garden.

Jeremy lifted his gaze from the floor and brought them back to me. He gave me a reassuring smile, “You just kept saying you needed to vomit. That’s why I ran after you.”

A wave of relief rushed over me. Jeremy handed me the coffee he was holding, “Here, you probably nee this more than I do.”

I carefully sat up and took the coffee from Jeremy’s extended hand. “Thanks.”

“You’re stuck with me until we get to Kansas,” Jeremy said with a smile, sitting on the edge of the bunk.

“You know,” I started after I took a sip. “Before, I would have been absolutely mortified at the prospect of spending this ride with you to Kansas. But I think I might actually enjoy it.”

“See, look at how far we’ve come. We’re all BFF now and what not,” Jeremy said. “Told you we got off on the wrong foot.”

I gave him an unenthused look, “You set the food tent on fire.”

Jeremy held his index finger up as he corrected me, “I set part of the tent on fire.”

I laughed, “Like that makes it better.”

“I can’t cook,” he stated.

My laughter increased as I thought back to the first day and all the days before now. All the days we had spent trying to get on each other’s nerves. Now we not only tolerating each other but we were friends. Well, actually, it was more me doing the tolerating. I stopped laughing only when I felt Jeremy tuck some hair behind my hair.

I opened my eyes and found Jeremy a few inches from my face, staring at me. Simultaneously, my lungs stopped breathing and my heart stopped beating. Jeremy hooked his index finger and thumb under my chin and started to pull me towards his lips.

“Olivia,” he said softly.

I closed my eyes.

“Olivia,” he said a little bit louder. His lips were touching mine now.

“Olivia!”

My eyes snapped open and I found myself staring into the eyes of Joey who was bent over me with a concerned look on his face.

“Were you out here all night?” He asked me.

I sat up and looked around me. Tour buses, vans, and cars were bustling with activity. I looked to my left and several feet away was A Day to Remember’s bus. I frowned as my head pounded heavily. My palm went up to knead it.

“It was a dream?” I asked.

Joey crouched to my side and helped me to my feet, “So I’m guessing you did.”

I looked at Joey who had thrown my arm over his shoulders. “Joey, get me to the van and let’s get out of here.”

“Whatever you say, boss,” he replied as we started walking.

My head started to pound again, “Oh, and get be a cup of coffee.”