Caught Like A Fly

There are a few things about tours you need to know. First of all, if there was someone on tour you didn't like, chances were that you'd run into them more often than anyone else. Secondly, you always happened to stop for gas at the same station at the same time. Normally I was able to keep to myself or sleep most of the time, but this wasn't always the case, especially now.

Andy had gone back to her own van, and I had migrated to the sofas and when the bus came to a stop, I was the only one that hopped out to see where we were. It couldn't have been a full minute since I stood outside to stretch when I saw a tall figure march determinedly in my direction. I was worried at first until I recognized Connor's blonde hair and then I had the decency to nod my head at him.

"You. Go inside. Now. We have to talk," he said, and I held up my hands as I loudly came back inside. If he was going to kill me, I wanted someone to know about it.

"Whoa, calm down man!" I said, and I thought I heard Ronnie roll over. He had been trying to get a hold of Viv all day; there was a possibility he was awake. Connor was not happy. "Let's just talk about this, okay?"

"Ugh, fine," he retorted, rolling his eyes. "Let's start with why my girlfriend is so fascinated with you." Oh boy, here we go.

"I thought it was obvious," I said carefully. "I'm the lead guitarist in one of her favorite bands. What am I supposed to do? Ignore her?"

"Yes! That's exactly what you're supposed to do!" he exclaimed, and I was sure someone was awake by now. He didn't sound as angry anymore, just sad and frustrated. I almost felt bad for him until I remembered he was the reason Andy wasn't with me right now. "You have no idea how hard it is to compete with you."

"Andy is a very desirable person to be around," I said, skirting around the subject of competition. "She's funny and we have a lot in common."

"Andy isn't funny, she's mean," Connor snorted, crossing his arms. "And bossy, too. She's not lady-like at all." Those words alone made me want to rearrange his face. This was her boyfriend that supposedly loved her?

"But isn't that what's so amazing about her?" Connor's expression disappeared and he only stared at me flatly. There were so many things I would have liked to say instead, but he turned on his heel and slammed the door behind him. I groaned softly as I pressed the heels of my hands into my eyes and began to lie down. Now I was the one that was angry. This wasn't fair; why did it have to be her? Of course I was doomed to fall helplessly in love with the girl who has an asshole boyfriend she refuses to leave. And I did love her. There was no denying that anymore.

"Jacky?" I propped up on my elbow to see Ronnie, his eyes squinting and quietly stepping to sit next to me. I fell back down and took out my frustration on the pillow I was laying on, yelling wordlessly into it before throwing it at the door.

"Fuck my life right now," I said to it nastily, hoping that it would turn into Connor so I could throw it at the door again.

"Why?" he asked, putting a hand on the side of my knee. I glared at him, but he only looked at me. "You're winning. Did you miss the part where he stormed off?"

"How is that winning?" I asked incredulously, pointing at the door. "He is walking to her right now, and he will be the one who gets to sleep next to her tonight. Not me."

"It's not going to last," Ronnie said, his voice more sure than ever. "You'll see. She's already yours, Connor is just a complication." He moved his hand from my knee to pat my shoulder before going back to his bunk. Why was it that when Ronnie said something it made sense?

I fetched the pillow I had previously wanted to murder and put it back under my head. Andy really wanted to be with me; she said it every time we were together. She was afraid to break up with Connor, but if I'm what she really wants, why does she care? It was baffling to me how someone could stay with the wrong person when the right one was hanging around every day, simply waiting for you to realize it.

Then again...

Why wasn't I doing anything to break them up? I could have simply told Connor, "Yeah, I'm fucking your girlfriend," and it would have been over. Was that why Andy was befriending that girl with the kick ass rainbow hair? Was she trying to find Connor a new girlfriend to ease the pain? That was ridiculous. If it were me, it would only hurt more that she put that much thought into hurting me.

However, there were plenty of things I could do, and one particular idea appealed to me the most. Tell Connor everything. Tell him I love Andy, and that I will never stop trying to get her. The plain, honest truth. Love always wins out in the end, and honesty is the best policy. Right? Right.

* * *

Jacky didn't come find me when all of the bands made it to the venue, which was unusual. I usually saw him within ten minutes of the van stopping, but I would soon find out that I wasn't going to see him until it was his turn to play. Even then, he didn't stop to give me a hug or anything. He just smiled and kept walking. Connor had a stupid grin on his face as he watched Jacky walk away, making me scoff and cross my arms. Penises. Good for nothing, God-forsaken and useless men.

It was past midnight now, and not even a text message. I was livid; if he was seriously going to start stepping lightly around Connor now, I was going to ignore the both of them and date Vinny. When I fell asleep, I had angry dreams about killing people, Ally and Connor being two of them, followed by an inappropriate dream about Jacky that uh, I won't disclose here.

I woke up to Ally chattering on about one thing or another, and I only listened to her because she brought me a coffee from Starbucks.

"I heard from some of the guys in the other bands that we're all going to a park today," was the first thing she said that I actually registered as speech in my brain and I nodded. "I guess they wanted to take their time or something, I don't know. It's going to be so much fun!"

"I bet," I said, my voice still gravelly. She continued on about what games we were going to play, swinging on the swings, watching sexy band guys take off their shirts and throw a football around and other ridiculously girly activities that I wanted nothing to do with. My head was still in a fog when I bumped into Jacky on accident.

"Andy, I've been looking for you," he said, setting his hands on my hips.

"Not very hard obviously," I snapped, taking a long drink from my cup.

"I had to think," he said quietly, and I hated how I wanted to forgive him on the spot. There was such a thing as being too stupid. "You need to know that I'm not going to let you go."

"Um, okay," I said, flattening my lips together. "This doesn't explain why you've been hiding from me."

"You'll see." He grinned mischievously and out of habit he glanced around before grabbing my wrist and pulling me behind a random bus and sending me into oblivion with a single kiss. These other-worldly trips had to stop one day; I didn't like staring off into space for so long my band almost left me in the parking lot on more than one occasion.