Stay With Me

When I walked around the corner the guys were all spread out on the couches we had near the front of the office. They were all fighting about some football game and hadn’t noticed that I was standing there.

“Guys!” Vinny yelled to catch their attention; all heads turned toward us.

“Rhi!” Alex and Jack yelled jumping up and squishing me between them in a hug.

“Hey,” I laughed wrapping my arms around both of them.

It had been so long since I’d seen these guys it was crazy. One of the major perks of this job was constantly meeting bands and singers. I met All Time Low about a year ago when they needed some new merch. Marky had assigned me to the designs and then decided that he wanted me to tour with them as well, mostly for marketing and such. Being a part of the crew was amazing. It gave me the opportunity to see all the nitty gritty behind the scenes stuff that people don’t usually get to experience. It was a turning point in my life, even though I was only 17, going on 18 at the time. I hadn’t just made some amazing friends; I’d also learned to really respect the work that they did.

“Zachary!” I grinned letting go of Alex and Jack.

“Don’t call me that,” he whined picking me up in a hug. “I’ve missed you.”

“I missed you too,” I smiled as he put me down. I went around and hugged all the guys and we spent the next hour just catching up and hanging around the office. Alex was talking to a few of the girls, as usual.

“Alexander William Gaskarth, stop flirting with the girls in the office,” I sighed walking up behind him and smacking him on the back of the head.

“Ouch, what was that for?” Alex asked rubbing his head.

“Nice one,” Jack grinned high fiving me.

“I figured it’s been awhile since I last saw you so you probably deserved it,” I smiled innocently. Alex just glared at me but kept his mouth shut because he knew I’d win, I always did.

“Can we go eat? I’m starving,” Jack whined.

“When aren’t you hungry?” I asked.

“When he’s sleeping,” Matt chuckled.

“Not true, I’m still hungry then,” Jack replied.

“Hey, Marky, is it okay if I go to lunch with the guys? I’ll be back in about an hour,” I asked poking my head into his office. If we didn’t leave soon Jack would drive us all crazy.

“Yeah, go for it but I need your help with some ideas for the summer line when you get back,” he replied not looking up from whatever it was he was doing.

“Yes, boss,” I said mock saluting him on the way out.

“So,” Vinny said wrapping an arm around my shoulders as we walked down the street to In-N-Out, “what’s new?”

“Not much, really,” I tried to play it cool but I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face.

“Spill, now.”

“Okay, okay, you know the band You Me At Six?”

“Yeah, weren’t they here just a few weeks ago?”

“Yep, so anyway, they wanted some new designs and Marky wanted me to do them. Long story short, they’re amazing and I maybe might have a very big thing for Dan, the drummer,” I said staring at my shoes. By now we’d made it to In-N-Out and the others were all lined up inside and ordering.

“Does he feel the same way?” Vinny put a finger under my chin and lifted my head up to look him in the eye.

“Yeah,” I smiled sadly, “he does.”

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s just, he lives in England, it’s so far away. I don’t know when I’m going to see them again and-”

“Whoa, calm down,” he said wrapping me in a hug. “Don’t think about that now, okay. Let’s just hang out and have a good time for a while. C’mon, let’s go eat and get out of the cold.”

We went inside and placed our orders, then went to sit with the others. We spent the rest of the hour chatting and laughing, we even received a few disapproving glances from some customers.

“I have to get back, guys,” I announced standing up from my seat between Vinny and Rian. There was a lot of complaints and whining but we paid the bill and then reluctantly headed back to the office.

“Call me,” Vinny said wrapping his arms around me and hugging me tight. The others had already said goodbye and were waiting outside.

“I will,” I smiled hugging him back. “Love you, Vin.”

“Love you too,” he smiled kissing my cheek and heading for the door. “Oh, and Rhi, if Dan ever hurts you I’ll kick his ass.”

“I’ll be sure to pass that on,” I smiled as he disappeared out the door.

I couldn’t help the overwhelming feeling of sadness that settled itself in the pit of my stomach. I hated goodbyes, especially since I had no idea when I would see them again. Those guys were my best friends, especially Vinny; he was like my second older brother. Seeing them leave always sucked. Why couldn’t I just have regular friends who lived in the same state and who never went on tour for more than three quarters of the year?

“Rhi, can you give me a hand?” Marky asked saving me from my thoughts.

“What?” I asked.

“The designs, I need your help.”

“Oh, yeah, coming,” I sighed following him into his office.

I spent the rest of the day holed up in Marky’s office coming up with a bunch of different designs and styles and giving my opinion when it was needed. By the time we were done it was dark out and the office was empty.

“Let’s go home,” I said standing up from my seat and stretching out my legs. I’d been sitting down way too long.

“You go; I just want to finish up here.”

“No, you’re going home. You spend way too much time here.”

“Alright, alright,” he sighed following me out of the office. “Rhi?”

“Yeah?”

“I was talking to Rob Highcroft, You Me At Six’s tour manager.”

“And?” I asked raising an eyebrow.

“He wants you to go over there and help out at shows by selling their merch, apparently their merch guy is sick or on leave or something. Plus, it would be good for the company to have a GK employee selling our stuff in the UK.”

“Wait, what? Are you sending me to England?” I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face. I could not believe this was happening. I was actually going to see the guys again; to see Dan.

“Yeah, I am,” Marky said, “you leave in a week.”