Erin William's Guide to Warped Tour

We ran away from the bus. Well more like he tried to run, I staggered drunkenly and he had to pick me up. He carried me to the shade of some trees, and then set me down. Somehow my beer had not spilled on the way here, so I took a big swig.

“Easy there,” Alex said, taking the beer from me. “So you never told me the name of your band,”

“Conspiracy Theory,” I told him.

“Cool,” he said. “Feel like singing me a song?”

“I don’t know…” I said.

“Come on,” he said. “Please? Just for me?”

“Fine,” I said, and began to sing one of my favorite original songs.

“Everyone has something
Something to feel inside
A memory
Or a photograph
Mine’s the summer of 1999

I got so tired of those endless albums
And the fake smile they gave me
When I was so young
But still knew so much was wrong

When everything feels right
And nothing feels the same
It’s all brand new
When you can see through eyes with change
It was one moment
One day
That’s when I knew
Nothing would ever be the same

He led me through the crowd
We pushed our way to the front
And I knew right then
This is all I would ever want

When everything feels right
And nothing feels the same
It’s all brand new
When you can see through eyes with change
It was one moment
One day
That’s when I knew
Nothing would ever be the same

It was in that moment
I felt free and I knew I could be
Anything and Everything
But there’s only one thing
That could finish this moment for me

When everything feels right
And nothing feels the same
It’s all brand new
When you can see through eyes with change
It was one moment
One day
That’s when I knew
Nothing would ever be the same”

“You’re a really good singer,” he complimented me.

“Thanks,”

“So why was your brother so mad?”

“He’s just being a stupid older brother,” I said, slightly slurring my words. “Even though, I’m twenty one and he should leave me alone.”

“I’m sure it’s just because he cares about you,” Alex assured me.

“Yeah,” I said, leaning onto Alex. “But he goes overboard, I – I – I can’t even do little things without him freaking out. Like he totally ruined my first kiss, and pretty much every relationship I’ve had because he just jumps at any sign of me liking a guy or vise versa,”

“So if he found out about this,” he said gesturing to us in general. “He’d be pissed, even if nothing happened,”

“Pretty much,” I confirmed.

“Well if he’s going to be annoyed with me either way,” he said, leaning closer to me. “I might as well get something out of it,” And then he kissed me. Once I realized what was happening I couldn’t decide to go with it or pull away. Before I could make the decision for me, Alex pulled away and muttered “Oh shit,” under his breath. I looked and saw my brother running toward me.

“Look this was nice, but I just met you, so I don’t know,” and said as fast as I could while getting up. “And I got to go.” I ran off, as fast as I could. My brother on my heels the whole ways back to the bus. I wish my brother would just get over his protective phase, it was nice when we were younger and he protected me from things that I actually needed help from, but this was ridiculous. I ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time.

“Dev!” I screamed. “Hide me!” He looked at me confused. “Quick!”

“Alright,” he pulled me down next to him and threw a blanket over me before leaning back so no one could see me. Just then, Dylan stormed on to the bus.

“Off her Devin,” he said sharply. Okay so maybe not the best hiding spot. “Erin, outside please.”

“No,” I said throwing the blanket off me. “I’m staying here, because you are not mom, and I’m twenty one,” I crossed my arms for emphasis but I think it just made me look more like the bratty younger sister he thought I was.

“Erin,” he said looking at me dead in the eyes. “We need to talk,”

“No actually, we don’t” I said. “I have a right to do whatever I want, and you don’t get to ridicule every decision I make, or that other people make around me.”

“Erin, we need to talk,”

“Repeating yourself is not going to make me change my mind,” I said, standing up and walking toward my bunk. I heard Dylan mutter something, but I wasn’t paying attention. I reached my bunk, but I didn’t want to go to sleep, so I kept walking back to the kitchen. I opened the fridge and took out a can of coke and the bottle of jack at the back.

I set them on the counter. I opened the coke, and poured the top of it into the sink. I could feel someone watching me, but I didn’t turn around. I tried to open the bottle of jack, but I struggled. I heard laughter behind me. I turned around to see Ben. I glared at him, and he but his hands up in mock surrender.

“Need some help?” he asked. I nodded. I liked that. He didn’t ask about what had happen between my brother and me, and he didn’t tell me I had drunk too much. He just offered to help me with what was happening now, not what had just happened.

When he handed it back to me, I took a swig, straight from the bottle, and then poured it into my coke can.

“Thanks,” I said after taking a large sip form the can.

“No problem,” he said. “So, if you don’t mind me asking, what was Dylan so upset about,” Perfect moment ruined.

“Oh nothing, he’s just way too over protective,” I lied. It wasn’t nothing, he had seen me kissing Alex, or rather Alex kissing me.

“Well yeah, but something must have happened to make him act like that,” Ben was so right and he didn’t even know it. Not that Alex had kissed me or that I went for a walk without telling him. There was one thing that had started it all. Something I had been glad he had been there for, but wished he’d have laid off me afterwards.

“Nahh, he’s always been like that,” I said, answering a question he didn’t ask.

“I meant like what set him off just now,” he explained. “Like he can’t be that bloody angry all the time,”

“Yeah well he might as well be” I said, and then turned to head back to where everyone else was sitting. I half smiled at Devin and he smiled back. It was so nice to have him back. “You all right?” he mouthed at me, and I nodded. “Good,” he mouthed and gave me an even bigger smile. I looked around at everyone else. They had seemed to get over the whole event, which was really good. No more awkward conversations about what he was upset about. I noticed that Rian was walking over toward me.

“Hey,” he said to me. “Have you seen Alex?”

“Not since I came back,” I told them.

“What happened with you two?” he asked.

“Nothing,” I could feel myself blushing.

“Seriously, what happened? And is it possible that your brother is going to murder him?” he was serious and joking at the same time. Weird but somewhat comforting.

“He kissed me, I told him that it was nice but we had just met, and my brother saw us so I ran back here. And yes that is totally a possibility, actually more of a probability,”

“Why does he always do this,” Rian muttered. I saw John and Garrett walking up behind him.

“Always do what?” I asked.

“Well I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but I also don’t want to let him hurt you worse, Alex is a bit of a player,”

“A bit of?” John asked sarcastically. “So what are we talking about here, does Erin have the hots for Lex?”

“No,” I said. “It’s just that he kind of kissed me and may or may not be being murdered by my brother as we speak,” I saw Garrett stiffen. Weird.

“When did you guys kiss,” John asked, before answering the question for himself. “No way. When he pulled you out of the bus?”

I nodded.

“Well I saw how pissed your brother was, rest in peace Alex,” he joked. I laughed and so did Rian, but not Garrett. What was up with this guy.

“Well I better go find him,” Rian said.

“We’ll come with,” John added, and followed Rian practically dragging Garrett with him.