No One Knows You Like I Do

John and Madison had fallen asleep on the couch in the lounge. John woke up first and looked at Madison asleep next to him. A smile formed on his lips as she rolled onto her side and moved closer to him. He was just sitting there staring at her when she stretched her arms and opened her eyes. John’s eyes darted across the room in hopes of Madison not seeing him stare at her. A small chuckle escaped her lips.
“Were you watching me sleep, John?” She sat up, moving herself away from him. John’s gaze fell back on her.
“Of course not.” He chuckled back. “You moved closer to me in your sleep and it woke me up, that’s it.”
“Alright then.” She said with a suspicious smirk. She stood up, stretching a bit more. John watched as her shirt rose slightly. He had to force himself to look away because his jaw was involuntarily falling open. He closed his mouth and cleared his throat as he stood up. Madison picked up her phone from the floor next to the couch and noticed a few texts from Nick.
‘Are you awake?’
Twenty minutes later he sent, ‘Guess not. Haha.’ Then, ‘Call me when you wake up, love.’
She smiled at the thought of him awaiting her phone call. They never really spent too much time apart, so this was weird for both of them.

“When are we stopping?” Nick sighed.
“In just a little bit.” Halvo groaned from the driver’s seat. Halvo and Nick had switched just a few hours earlier so Nick could get a bit of rest. However, he spent most of the time asking when they were gonna stop and he could see Madison again. “Just fucking sleep already. We’re tired of you asking every five minutes. We’ll wake you when we stop.”
“Fine.” Nick closed his laptop and set it n the empty seat next to him. He rested his head on a pillow he’d put against the window and closed his eyes. He fell asleep almost instantly. Justin could hear his breathing calm and he sighed in relief.
“Thank God.” He whispered.
“Is he finally asleep?” Halvo asked.
“Yes.” Everyone else relaxed and continued the drive in silence so they wouldn’t wake Nick.

“Hm…” Madison brought her phone away from her ear and put it in her pocket.
“Something wrong?” John asked, rubbing the back of his head nervously.
“Just…Nick told me to call him when I woke up, but he didn’t answer. I guess he must have fallen asleep.” She shrugged. “So what now?”
“Are you hungry?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Let’s eat then.” They went to the little kitchen area and had some cereal. Shortly after the two finished, Garrett and Mackenzie walked in.
“Morning, guys.” John smirked. Both Mackenzie and Garrett’s hair was all over the place.
“MC, you didn’t!” Madison gasped as the couple’s cheeks turned bright red.
“We really didn’t.” Mackenzie managed to say.
“I wanna believe you, but your hair says otherwise.”
“Madison!” She sat next to her. “We really didn’t.” She whispered.
“Okay, okay! What are you waiting for then?” She whispered back with a smirk.
“Until we get home, okay? Now let’s drip this topic!” She stood up and went to the bathroom to fix her hair. Garrett was sitting next to John, his face still red as a tomato.
“Oh, Garrett, it’s okay. We all have needs while we’re touring!” John laughed.
“Stop it!” Madison chuckled as she lightly hit John’s arm. Garrett laid his head on the table.
“Gare, do you want some cereal?” Madison asked. He nodded with his head still on the table.
“Lucky Charms, please.” He mumbled.

Justin lightly shook Nick’s shoulder as they arrived at the venue for the night’s show. Nick moved, but still didn’t wake up.
“I give up! First we couldn’t get him to sleep and now we can’t get him up!” He jumped out of the van and was greeted by Madison.
“Hiya.” She smiled and hugged him. “Is my slug of a boyfriend still asleep?” She peered into the van and saw him asleep on the window.
“He sure is. Go wake him.”
Madison shook her head. “Never send a man to do a woman’s job.” She smirked as Justin laughed and headed inside the venue. Madison climbed into the van, moved Nick’s laptop, and sat next to Nick. She kissed his cheek lightly and he turned toward her. With his eyes still closed, he said, “Halvo, I told you if you ever woke me up like that again, I’d kill you.”
“Guess again.” Madison chuckled. Nick opened his eyes quickly.
“Oh shit.” He laughed.
“Halvo’s woken you up like that before?”
“Once. A long time ago. It was awkward.” He closed his eyes and shook his head trying to rid himself of the mental picture forming in his head. Madison laughed as she wrapped her arms around Nick’s neck. She kissed his cheek again as she placed his hands on her waist.
“Have a fun night?” Nick asked.
“Yes, but it would have been better with you!” She pressed her lips to his. The simple kiss turned more rough and passionate and Madison was really wishing she had closed the door of the van. Even more so when John poked his head in.
“Oh, sorry.” He stepped away as Madison pulled away from Nick.
“Wait, John, did you need something?” She was outside the van now, waiting for John to turn around.
“Oh…uh, Mackenzie’s looking for you. That’s all.” He ran his hand through his hair and returned to walking inside. Nick sighed as he hopped out of the van and stood next to Madison.
“That Mackenzie, and John, always interrupting.”
“Relax.” Madison chuckled as she skipped off to find Mackenzie. Nick followed the rest of the guys and went inside.

John sat in a chair in the back corner of the room. He had his notebook open and was scribbling away in it. Nick looked around the room and saw that no one saw a problem in this, but Nick knew better. There was something going on with him and he wasn’t telling anyone. Nick took a seat next to him. John glanced sideways and saw him, but ignored him. Nick watched him continue to write quickly in his notebook. He cleared his throat, but John continued to ignore him.
Things had definitely been weird with them since the tour had started, before that even. Nick didn’t understand why and he wanted his friend back, so he decided to speak first. He cleared his throat again, but only managed to say, “Hey.”
“Hey.” John replied without even looking up.”
“Uh…what’s up?”
“Nothing much. Just working on some lyrics.”
Well, that’s good, but I was referring more to what’s up between us.” He let out a nervous chuckle. John finally looked up; his eyes filled with something Nick couldn’t quite read. Jealousy? Anger? Loneliness? Maybe a little bit of all three.
“I’m not sure what you mean.” John gave him a half-hearted smiled before returning to writing in his notebook.
“We haven’t talked much and, frankly, it seems like you’ve been avoiding me. Did I…did I do something?” He knew he was sounding like a bitch, but him and John had been friends for years. He wasn’t understanding why things had become so tense and awkward between them all of a sudden.
John let out a sigh. He closed his notebook and put his pen behind his ear. He licked his lips as he stood up. “I’ve just had a lot on my mind. I’m sorry. We should, uh, hang tonight after the show.” John offered.
“Sounds great.” Nick stood with a smile. “Hey, you could come out and sing with us during Just Another One tonight?” John smiled. He really loved playing that song, not to mention he knew how much the fans liked it when he joined them for it.
“I’m in.” John replied.

******

The guys all decided they were going to go out drinking. They had a late bus call and there was a nice bar around the corner from the venue. The girls were “not invited,” as Garrett put it when he was telling Mackenzie. So once they guys left, Mackenzie and Madison put a movie in the DVD player on The Maine’s bus. They didn’t pay too much attention to the movie, however, because they were doing a lot of talking. They complained about how they weren’t invited, they told each other funny moments that happened when the other wasn’t around, and they talked about their boyfriends, of course.
After a brief silence, Madison turned to Mackenzie and asked, “Do you know who John likes?” Mackenzie was shocked, to say the least. She was unsure of how to answer that.
“Why do you ask?” She decided to stall as long as possible.
“We were talking last night and he said he had a crush on a girl who has a boyfriend and that he would never have a chance. I was just wondering if you know how it is because I want to help him.”
Mackenzie took it all in and took a deep breath. “I don’t know how to say it.” She looked away from Madison and rested her eyes on the television screen. She had absolutely no interest in the movie whatsoever. In fact, she had forgotten what they were even watching.
“Oh, does she have a weird name? Spell it out!”
Mackenzie chuckled. “No, I mean, I don’t know how to tell you who it is. Her boyfriend is close with him and even if the two were to break up, John still couldn’t date her. It just wouldn’t work out.”
“Oh my god.” Realization hit Madison. “I know who it is!”
“Oh…I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.” She shrugged her shoulders guiltily.
“It’s okay. You just gotta let him down easy. You and Garrett really like each other.” Madison put a hand on Mackenzie’s shoulder.
“What?! No!”
“You don’t like Garrett anymore?!” She gasped. “It was John’s charm, wasn’t it?”
“No! I don’t like John and John doesn’t like me. He likes you!” She finally said because her irritation was quickly building.
“Me?!”