Finding Calix

“Alright Mason are you ready?” I called from the family room where I had just put my two bags, and camera’s down.

“Yes!” he called back running into the room with just his backpack. I eyed him confused.

“Mace, are there any clothes in that bag?” I asked him and he shook his head.

“And what are you planning on wearing for three months?” I asked and he shrugged.

“Alright babe, let me help you.” I said and lead him back to his room. I grabbed another bag from his closet and put his pair of white converse on the bottom, some clothes, and sock in it as well. I then went to the kitchen and grabbed a large zip lock bag and went to the bathroom and seized his tooth paste, toothbrush, and hair brush. Once back in his room I put that in his bag as well before zipping it shut. I turned to see him on his bed playing his game boy. I sighed remembering game boy color, and using the connectors to play Tetris with my friends.

“Alright kid, if you’ve got your games in that bag then we are ready to go get Scout.” I told him and he nodded standing up and grabbing his game bag. I grabbed my two bags and handed him his other one. I walked ahead of him out of the apartment, took one last look at our around before shutting the door and following Mason down the stairs. I put our stuff in the trunk before getting Mason buckled in, and then got in the car myself. Set it Off was popped in the cd player the drive to Scouts was commenced. When I got there she was sitting on her porch with her two bags. My eyebrows furrowed as I saw the tears on her face. I turned to Mason and put on a happy expression, instead of the nervous one I felt.

“Hey Mace, I’m going to leave you here while I go get Scout okay.” I told him and he beamed.

“Can you say goodbye to Alex for me?” He asked and I nodded before getting out of the car and locking the doors to make sure no one could take him. What can I say I’m paranoid? I ran up to Scout and sat down next to her.

“What happened love?” I asked a little worried.

“It’s nothing really, it’s just that Alex and I got in another fight.” She sniffed.

“Again?” I asked and she nodded.

“Yeah, but I really don’t want to talk about it now, can we just go wherever were supposed to meet up with the other people and get on the bus?” She asked wiping her eyes.

“Are you sure?” I asked her and she nodded. I unlocked the car and we got in. I drove to the place were we were supposed to meet the other people who would be going on tour with us. It was just some writers, who would be writing interviews to go in the magazine, as well as another photographer. Between the two of us we were supposed to get some shots of every band on Warped, just in case they decided to put some random pictures in or something. And then there were the pictures we were going to have to take of the band after an interview. When I got there I grabbed Mason and our bags out of the car. And joined Scout with Mason by the front of the car.

“What do we do now?” Scout asked and I shrugged.

“Knock on the door…” I suggested and they nodded. I left Mason with Scout and knocked on the bus door. It was opened by a short girl with auburn hair and brown eyes.

“Hi, I’m Calix Harrison and I’m another photographer on this tour.” I told her and she nodded.

“Sweet I’m Alyssa Jenks, photographer number two.” she said and I stuck my hand out. We shook hands.

“Do you need any help getting your stuff into the bus?” She asked.

“Uh yeah sure.” I said and we both walked back over to my sister and my son.

“And who’s this little fella?” Alyssa asked looking down at Mason.

“This is my son, Mason, and my sister Scout.” I told her and she looked at me slightly shocked. I was used to getting this look, when you have a five year old son and are only 24 you get the look a lot.

“Y-your son?” She asked and I nodded with a small smile.

“Yup, I’m five years old!” Mason announced proudly.

“Well little dude, I’m Alyssa, and I think were gonna be good friends.” She said and he beamed at her.

“And you’re Scout?” She asked turning to my sister.

“Yup, it’s nice to meet you.” She said and shook Alyssa’s hand. Afterwards she helped us get our bags, and my camera’s inside the bus. Mason wanted a top bunk but I was worried about him rolling over and falling out of it, so I told him he would be taking the bottom one then put his stuff under it, while he stood there frowning at me. I put my stuff next to him, made sure my camera’s were safe under there then went to the front with Scout and Mason to meet the other three people there. Sitting in the front on two separate sofas were two more boys and one girl. A boy with blonde hair and green eyes stood up and smiled at me.

“Hi I’m Jackson Ports.” He said sticking out his hand.

“Calix Harrison, at your service.” I said shaking it, he turned to Scout, who introduced herself then also shook his hand.

“Hey! Don’t forget about me!” Mason yelled running over to us. I shook my head at him then picked him up with a small laugh.

“How could I ever forget about you silly?” I said kissing his forehead.

“And this is my son Mason.” I told Jackson with a small smile.

“And he’s going to be coming on tour with us?” he asked and I nodded.

“Sweet it’s going to be fun kid.” He said and shook Mason’s hand with a wide grin on his face. Then the guy who was sitting next to him snored loudly.

“Sorry, that’s Kyle. I guess you could say he partied too hard last night.” I looked at the guy apprehensively, I knew that there would obviously be alcohol and immature boys here, but I was hoping I would be able to keep Mason away from it. If there was someone on the bus who drank heavily it would be a little harder than I anticipated.

“Yup and by partied hard, he means that he got wasted and is now hung the fuck over.” The girl sitting from the couch across from Kyle said and my eyes went wide at her use of words, right in front of Mason.

“Zoe, watch your mouth, there’s a little boy!” Alyssa scolded and Zoe’s eyes widened.

“Sorry, I’m Zoey by the way.” She said and I nodded.

“Pshh, its not like kid hasn’t heard that, or worse before.” Scout said with a shrug and I glared at her.

“Not from me he hasn’t.” I said and she grinned sheepishly.

“Mama I wanna get shwasted!” he said and grinned at me as my eyes went wide as I looked at Scout.

“He means on ice cream, we watched Grown Up’s two weeks ago.” She explained and I shook my head.

“Well Mace, next time, how about you just say I want some ice cream.” I suggested and he shook his head.

“That doesn’t sound as cool.” He said and I sighed letting it go for now. As a mom you have to choose your battles wisely. We all chatted for a little while longer before I put Mason to bed and talked with Alyssa, Zoe, Jackson, and Kyle who had waken up ten minutes ago. He wasn’t as bad as I thought; I guess he was just celebrating finally getting to go work at warped. That and he apparently didn’t drink on the job. We spoke for a little bit about what was going to happen and where the first stop was, before I went to bed as well.