Tear Down the Cobwebs

Dodging around yet another person, I continued my search. I never thought it would be this hard to find one person, especially someone who was waiting for a response to a question. Guess I was wrong. If only I had the power of teleportation; then I could just teleport myself to wherever Ricky is. Right now I'd even be ok with x-ray vision so I could see through all theses people and through mercy tents and buses.

I tossed my empty cup into a passing trash can and was so focused on trying to get the little piece of paper into my pocket that I walked straight into someone. I jumped back, instinctively preparing for the punch or slap that was about to come. But it didn't. I hadn't accidentally run into my father. Clearing my thoughts, I looked up to see who it was instead.

"Are you ok?" Chris asked, a look of concern on his face.

I nodded. "Yeah, sorry, I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking."

"I noticed. Trying to do too much at once?"

"I never claimed to be amazing at multi-tasking. Just everything else. But anyways, I was trying to find Ricky. I need to tell him something. Any chance you know where he is?" I doubted they had a magic psychic connection that allowed them to keep tabs on each other, but it was still worth a shot. I watched as Chris thought and looked over the heads of the crowds around us, a thing I can very rarely do. It's even a rare thing for me to do that an elementary school. I still can't believe there are eight and nine year old kids taller than me. It's kind of a scary thought.

I forced myself back to reality, noticing Chris waving his hand in front of my face, a grin on his face. "Get lost in your own little world?" he asked.

"Lost in my word, yes. Little world, definitely not. So, what's the verdict?"

"I don't see him. Have you tried calling his cell? He almost always has it nearby."

I shook my head. "I think Zach has the phone. He said something about having someone to meet up with before we head out to the next city." That was just my nice way of saying he was out trying to get laid.

"Alright, hop on," Chris said, kneeling down. I jumped on his back, holding tightly as he stood back up.

"So this is what it feels like to be a giant," I said, looking around. I could feel Chris's laugh vibrating through his chest as we took off. I was definitely using Chris as my escape vehicle during the zombie apocalypse for sure after this. Not only did we get farther a lot faster than I could by myself, but I could see a lot further too.

I took the time we had to get to know Chris better. I still had to fight the occasional desire to turn into a little fangirl and squeeze the life out of him, but it was worth it. Along the way Chris introduced me to a few people from other bands on tour, which was pretty damn cool. I never was much of a social butterfly, but getting to know all these people was exciting.

We ended our tour of the merch tents, stages, and buses at the door to MIW's bus. And unlike Balz, Chris did not threaten to drop me to the ground. Instead, he carried me onto the bus, still on his back. I tightened my grip as Chris spun around quickly, threatening to make me dizzy. "Special delivery!" he announced before letting go of me. WIthout a warning, I fell off one person and onto another.

"Hi," I said, looking up innocently into Ricky's face. Looking around, I saw Angelo, Ryan, and Allie sitting around laughing at what had just happened. I doubt they'd be laughing this much if they'd been the ones dropped from that high. Or if I'd just been dropped in their lap.

"Well, that's one way to make a dramatic entrance," Ricky said, helping me off him and onto the couch next to him. "What's up with you?"

I shrugged. "Not much." Looking around again, I saw that everyone had gone back to watching whatever it was they were watching on tv. Talk about short attention spans. "I do have a top secret message to pass onto you though."

"If I agree to accept this message, is it going to self-destruct within thirty seconds of me receiving it?"

"I hope not. That would be pretty painful. And messy, with all the blood and guts that would be everywhere."

"Wait, what about blood and guts everywhere?" Ryan interrupted.

"Nothing for you to worry about," I said. "For now, at least," I added mysteriously. I laughed, watching his eyes go wide.

"I"ll protect you!" Allie cried, throwing herself across him. Again, it didn't take them all long to forget us and go back to the tv.

"Since I'll be safe, what's this message?" Ricky asked, pulling my attention back to him.

"Yes," I said simply.

"Yes?" I guess the message was a little too simple. It took him a minute, but Ricky figured it out on his own. "Cool. I don't really have any plan yet, but we can figure it out as we go if that works for you."

I nodded. "We play first thing tomorrow, and it's my turn to to spend a few hours selling merch, but meet me by our van?" I'd have to remember to get up earlier than usual tomorrow. This wasn't going to be just another day to get ready for. This was a date. And not just any date; this was a date with the one and only Ricky Horror.

The bus door slammed open, saving me from embarrassing myself with another fangirl moment that I might not be able to save myself from. "Has anyone found out what this bet was?" Balz asked no one in particular. Everyone shook their heads, and I remained silent.

There was no way I was sharing this with them. It really wasn't that amazing of a story, but I still didn't want to share. I'd have to remember to strangle Zach if he ever came up with another stupid bet. I guess that'll be tonight or tomorrow then.

"I guess we'll have to get it out of you then," Balz said, a mischievous look on his face. I shook my head. They weren't going to get m to talk. "Please?" Balz begged? I waited for him to get down on his knees and plead again.

"Nope. I'm not telling you what the bet was or any details other than the fact that it took place at Walmart at three in the morning."

"Now you've gotta tell us what happened," Angelo said, leaning forward. Again, I shook my head. I watched as Angelo stood up, joining Balz in the floor. Nope, I was still not sharing.

I jumped up, squealing when someone grabbed my sides, the only place I was ticklish. "Now we'll get it out," Ricky said, grabbing me again, half tickling me, half pulling me back down towards him.

"No!" I cried out, laughing. I struggled to get free. Unfortunately, the second I was out of Ricky's grasp, I tripped and fell on the pair sitting on the floor who wasted no time at all taking over. At some point Ricky and Chris joined in as well, but to no avail. "Allie, help me," I pleaded. But she was trapped as well by Ryan. "You'll never get it out of me! Try all you want, but I refuse to give up."

Everyone froze at the whistle. "Do I want to know what's going on here?" I heard Hunter asked. When did he get here? And why didn't he do anything to help me?

"I don't know, do you?" I asked, twisting around to see him.

"Normally I would say no since crazy things tend to happen when you're around, but since there are four guys on top of you, I think I'm going to have to risk it."

"We just want to know about this bet she and Zach had," Ryan explained.

Hunter shook his head. "I don't even know what is was. If Hailey wants to keep a secret, she will. I knew her for almost ten years before I knew--" he cut himself off when he caught my board.
"Nevermind. Zach's back and Aaron found us a place to go tomorrow morning. But we've gotta get going if we're all gonna have time."

This was the perfect timing for a shower. We usually stopped by some cheap hourly motel just so we could shower and Aaron and I could re-dye our hair if needed. But we kept that a secret since no one really wants the world to know you've spent time at an hourly motel for any reason. I managed to get out from the bottom of the pile I was in and followed Hunter back towards our van.

Could that have been a look of jealousy passing between Ricky and Balz? I had to be imagining it, letting Hunter's words get to me. I wasn't leading Balz on. I had a date with Ricky, and that was it. Right?

"You've come along way in the past few years," Hunter said once we were far enough away that no one could overhear us. "When you ran away, you didn't even let your best friends too close and now I find you here."

I nodded. "It's still hard sometimes, but the memories aren't as fresh as they were. I just keep reminding myself that I'm never going back to that house and that I'm with people that care about me now."

"Fifteen years is a lot of time to forget. But you really are doing pretty well." I nodded, not saying anything else, not wanting to pull those memories back up. I already had enough scars to reminn me daily of my past. I didn't need anything more. "Are you going to tell me about this bet?" Hunter asked hopefully, changing the subject.

"Nope," I replied. "And neither is anyone else." I knew the rest of the band was going to ask, but unless they broke Zach, no one would have to know. That meant all I had to do was sit back and fantasize about tomorrow night.