Follow My Lead

The next day the WCAR boys and most of their crew were all nursing massive hangovers. Maybel set up their merch table all by herself and ran it for at least two hours. At 2:30, Andy and Lou emerged in sunglasses. She laughed at their disheveled appearances.

“You guys play at 4 and sign at 6:45.”She said as they sat down. Both boys made non committal grunting noises which made her laugh even more. “Did you guys have a bit too much fun last night?” Andy put his shades on top of his head, “fucking yes. Never let me drink that much again on this tour. I’d probably die of alcohol posioning.” He slung his arm over her shoulders andand leaned against her. She nodded and patted his head, “Sure thing Glassjaw.”

Lou looked at Maybel, “So how are you and Kyle getting along?” She rolled her eyes, “that boy is so annoying oh my god. Don’t even get me started.”

“Ouch that hurt” came a voice from behind her, “and to think I brought you this banana because you’d been working through lunch.” Maybel whipped around causing Andy to lose his balance. She saw a smirking Kyle holding an apple and a banana. “Please give me the banana!” she begged. She was absolutely starving.

“say please.”

‘Kyle. I just did.” She looked at him expectantly. he faltered, realizing that she had in fact said please. “Oh...well, here you go.” He tossed her the banana, which she caught one handed and turned back around to Andy and Lou.

Andy gave Kyle a “stick-me” note with the signing and set time. Kyle gave a thumbs up and started to walk away. Without looking at him Maybel called a thank you after him. He waved his hand, “yeah, ok darlin’.” Andy and Lou just shook their heads at eachother.

A few days later and nothing new had come of the whole Kyle/Maybel rivalry. It was peaceful but everyone was walking on eggshells, waiting for Kyle to do something to fuck up their temporary treaty.

Maybel was sitting outside the bus tanning. The boys had given her the day off so she could relax. Of course tanning on Warped made her look ridiculous but she didn’t care. Someone stood in front of her, blocking her sun. She didn’t want to deal with anyone so she just made some sort of “move” gesture with her hand without opening her eyes.

“Why...why are you tanning on Warped Tour? Are you crazy?” the voice was deep and boarder line nasally. She sighed, “I want to have the best tan, so I’m cheating a little. It’s hard for me to tan anyways, so I’ll take all the sun I can get.”

The guy laughed, “Oh, silly me.” When he didn’t walk away, Maybel opened her eyes. Before her stood the screamer from The Devil Wears Prada. She really only recognized him because of the denim vest he had on that he wore on stage all the time. “Prada?” she asked for clarification.

He nodded with a small smile. “yes ma’am. I take it you’re with We Came As Romans?” She nodded, “Dave’s sister and trusty merch girl!” She closed her eyes again, hoping he’d get the hint to leave. Instead, he sat on the dirt next to her.

“So is today you’re off?” He asked casually. She nodded, getting quickly more annoyed with him. “I’m Mike by the way.” he added on when the silence started to strech. “Maybel” she clipped back at him. She sat up and looked at Mike. “Look Mike, you seem like a nice guy. Cute too if we’re being honest, but I just really want to be left alone right now so...” All of what she said was true. He was indeed cute.

He stood up and nodded. “alright alright I get it. I think we should grab lunch sometime soon, okay?” She smiled, despite herself, “Okay that’d be cool. See you later Mike.” She laid back down. Mike waved, said goodbye and walked away.

Just as she started to fall back asleep, Kyle plopped into her lap. “Maybel, tell me a story!” Without opening her eyes or missing a beat she started, “Once upon a time, a boy named Kyle got beat up because he was an annoying pain in the ass. The End.” He stood up, “well that story sucked. If you want a pain in the ass though, I’m your man.” He laughed at his pun.

Maybel opened her eyes and stood up as well. She looked around for her shirt to cover up her bikini top but didn’t see it. She looked at Kyle who held it in his hands. “Why cover up that hot little body of yours? Nice tat by the way.” He sounded sincere too. She looked at her hip instinctively where her Deathly Hollows symbol was. She had gotten it over a year ago but Kyle had never seen it before.

“Thanks. Now can I please have my shirt back?” He tossed it back to her. “Dave told me to tell you that we’re going out to eat tonight and to be ready at six. Cool?” Maybel nodded and thanked him. He nodded and walked away while Maybel scrambled onto the bus.