Be Quiet You Might Piss Somebody Off

”Is it always this hot in the bus?” I asked as I was leaning against Brian's side on the couch. Brian, me and Johnny were watching TV while the rest of the guys and girlfriends/wives were sleeping or in the kitchen area.

”It's not hot in here,” Johnny mumbled. I looked at him and saw that he was just about to fall asleep. Then I took a look at Brian's face and noticed that he was having a hard time trying to keep his eyes open, too.

”Maybe you two should go to sleep,” I suggested.

”Why...” Brian mumbled and closed his eyes. He leaned his head back.

”Because you will fall asleep any minute, now?”

”Mmhm...”

It only took a few seconds for him to fall asleep. I looked at Johnny once again and saw that he was asleep as well. I rolled my eyes before getting up from the couch. I went past the bunks and noticed that Jimmy was laying wide awake in his bunk. He was staring in front of him with a blank look on his face.

”Jimmy? Is everything alright?” I asked quietly and stopped walking. He turned his head to my side and looked at me. He smiled a bit and gave me a thumbs up.

”Are you sure? You don't look like everything's okay,” I said. I sat down on his bunk.

”Are you okay?” He asked me. I cocked an eyebrow and looked at his face.

”Why wouldn't I be okay?” I asked, getting confused.

”The accident, your sister, all that stuff.”

”Oh... I'm fine, don't worry about it,” I said and smiled a bit.

”You're like our child. Everyone worries about you.”

”Really? Well, I'm only glad I'm actually NOT Brian's child... Because that would be really, really weird.” Jimmy laughed.

”You're so stupid.”

”Aww, thanks, babe!”

”Watch out, Gates might hear you calling me babe,” Jimmy said and winked at me.

”Oh, I'm sure he'll understand. You're my best friend!” I said with a laugh.

”Well, in that case you're a horrible best friend. You haven't called me in months!” He whined and pouted like a little kid.

”Aww, I'm sorry! Will you ever forgive me? I promise that from now on, I'll call you every day,” I said and went closer to hug him.

Just then Brian walked to the bunks and cocked an eyebrow at us as I pulled away from Jimmy.

”You're not going to try to steal my girlfriend, are you?” He asked Jimmy.

”See? I knew he would think so!” Jimmy exclaimed.

”Shh, everyone's sleeping!”

”Yeah. Let's go,” Brian mumbled and grabbed my hand. He pulled me out of Jimmy's bunk and pushed me into his bunk.

”What's wrong with you? Why are you being like that?” I asked as I watched as he took off his shirt. Then he got in the bunk and lay down.

”I'm tired,” he mumbled against the pillow and pulled me down so that we lay there next to each other. He pulled the blanket over us and pulled me close to his body.

”You didn't have to be so rude,” I said quietly.

”I'll worry about it in the morning. I just want to sleep with my beautiful girlfriend,” he mumbled and gave me a kiss as he closed his eyes.

”You only said I'm beautiful because you want me to forget what just happened,” I pointed out.

”I said you're beautiful because you are. Now shut up and get some sleep.”

-

In the morning I woke up when Brian left the bunk. I was too tired to get up so I closed my eyes and tried to sleep some more.

”I'm not really trying to steal your girlfriend.” I heard Jimmy's quiet voice coming from his bunk.

”Mmhm. Maybe you shouldn't hug her and let her call you ”babe” in front of me, then,” Brian muttered.

”I have barely seen her since you two started dating!”

”I don't care. She's mine.”

That was the end of their conversation. After that I found myself laying in Brian's bunk with my eyes wide open. Was Brian really THAT jealous? We all knew he had no reason to be because even though Jimmy had kissed me once when he was drunk, that didn't mean I would ever leave Brian for him.

After realizing I wasn't going to get any more sleep, I got out of the bunk. And the rest of the day went by as I avoided Brian a bit (which I hadn't been planning to, though. He just happened to come to me while I was doing something else and I had to tell him to come back later) and then suddenly it was getting late already.

The guys had just finished their show and we were packing up the bus. We stood outside while some of the guys were still in their dressing room having a shower or something.

”So, uh, was it a good show?” I asked as no one had said anything in a while. It was pretty awkward, really, because I was standing there with Brian, Jimmy and Val. And Brian and Jimmy didn't talk much to each other.

”Yep.” That's all Brian said as he finished his cigarette and threw it away.

”Val, come here!” Matt shouted from the bus and so she left. Which left only me, Brian and Jimmy. Cool.

”Brian, I think you should apologize to Jimmy,” I said suddenly.

”Uh, why?”

”Because you were being really rude to him. He's my friend,” I said and shrugged, ”And he is your best friend, too.”

”I haven't done anything wrong, Amanda.”

”Yeah, he's right,” Jimmy said with a nod.

”Well, just so you know, I'm not ”yours” entirely, like you said to Jimmy. I'm allowed to hug my friends. Or even call them babe or whatever the hell I want to!” I said. Brian rolled his eyes.

”Let's not talk about this right now. Look, we're leaving!” Jimmy pointed at the bus. I snorted.

”Have you two talked about this already? I want NO fights between you,” I said and crossed my arms over my chest.

”Yes. Everything is okay. Let's go now,” Jimmy said and patted my back as he started to walk to the bus.

”No! Stop walking! I want you two to talk about this!” I exclaimed.

”Amanda,” Brian laughed, ”We've talked about it! Everything's fine.”

”Well why haven't you two talked to each other all night?” I muttered.

”It has nothing to do with this,” Brian said quietly, ”Jimmy has a... Problem.”

”What? What kind of a problem?”

”It's something you don't need to know about,” Brian said as Jimmy walked to the bus without looking back. I felt slightly taken aback.

”Tell me,” I demanded. He shook his head.

”Jimmy asked me to not talk to you about this.”

”Well I don't care. I need to know.”

”Look, Amanda, this is going too far. You don't need to know about everything,” Brian muttered.

”We're talking about my best friend here!”

”No shit, are we? He's everyone's best friend, for fucks sake!”

”Why are you like that? You used to tell me about everything,” I said quietly.

”Fine, fine! We're worried about him because he's using drugs again and can't stop drinking,” he muttered, ”Now shut up and never say a word about what I just told you.”

I was beyond shocked. Jimmy was using drugs? Again? I knew he had done that a few years ago but I had thought he was over that stuff. And he had a problem with drinking? Wow... Just, wow. Now I felt bad for shouting at them and making it a problem. I had thought Brian was jealous and that was the only problem but... Wow. I was speechless.

”Amanda? Let's go, everyone's leaving,” Brian said quietly and grabbed my hand.

”No, wait. Is Jimmy going to be okay?” I whispered in horror.

”Of course. We've all promised to help him. He'll get the help he needs and life can go on,” he said softly and cupped my cheek. I nodded. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me towards the bus.