What Lies Beneath

Sleeping in the bunks wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting. It almost felt like camping… almost. It was a little weird feeling the bus move while you slept. I was sure I would get used to it soon, or I was just gonna have to suck it up.

I crawled out of the small space and stretched, before reaching under my bunk and pulling out my suitcase. I grabbed my clothes for the day and my toiletries. Luckily no one was in the little washroom, so I quickly went in and did my thing.

When I excited the bathroom I was met with the sweet sight of Sean pulling his shirt over his head. I couldn’t help but slightly gawk at him. He had the cutest little patch of chest hair, I couldn’t help myself, something about it was just sexy.

“Hey,” I said as I put my things back into my suitcase.

“Mornin,” He mumbled groggily, “I could use a joint right now.”

I couldn’t help but laugh, “Oh yeah?”

“Yes,” He smiled down at me as we walked into the front of the bus.

Matt, Rob, Evie, and Jason were all up enjoying coffee, and making small talk. Sean didn’t say anything to anyone, just went right for the coffee mugs. He grabbed two, and began making them.

He looked over at me, “how do you take it?”

“Black,” I smiled, as he pulled a face at me.

“Ew,” he chuckled as he handed me a purple mug, “enjoy your poison.”

“There’s nothing wrong with black coffee,” Rob said with a smile.

“Exactly,” I raised my mug to him before taking a sip, “so, how early does everyone usually start?”

“Seven or eight, depending on what they have to do,” Matt said as he stood up.

“That’s why it’s good to be a tech,” Jason chuckled.

We all continued to talk, and soon after Jamie joined us. The guys finally got back with breakfast. We all went out and got some. When we were standing in the line, Sean placed his hand on my lower back. I almost jumped out of my skin with excitement. There was no way of getting the smile off of my face.

“So… we’re gonna go for a quick smoke before we start setting up,” Rob began as we sat down at a table, “are you interested in joining us?”

I laughed, “for sure, yeah.”

“Right on,” Sean smirked at me, sending a shock through my body.

We all ate relatively quickly, so we could start working at a reasonable time, but still had time for a quick smoke. I wasn’t a serious pot smoker, personally. But I did enjoy it from time to time.

I followed Rob and Sean to a spot that they deemed ‘safe’. Rob pulled a small joint out of his cigarette pack, and lit it.

“Do you smoke much?” Sean asked, as Rob handed him the joint.

I shrugged, “Meh, now and again. I was pretty into it in high school, but I guess I kinda got bored with it. I usually just enjoy it every now and again.”

“That’s good,” Rob smiled approvingly, as I was finally passed the joint, “and you don’t smoke cigarettes, I noticed.”

I shook my head no, as I placed the joint against my lips and breathed in deep. The smoke brought that familiar burn down my throat, and a slight tingle in my lungs. I could still remember my first time, it was terrible. But it was funny now that I could look back at it.
We continued to pass it around until it was gone. And then it was off to the stage to start setting up. It was the same as the day before, a little work with a lot of fooling around. Stopping for a quick lunch later on.

As we were getting ready for the line check, I noticed Brian watching us. I decided to find out the scoop from him about Evie. I was gonna try and work some magic.

“Hay, Brian,” I waved, “how’s it goin?”

He smiled and shrugged, “pretty good, yourself?”

“As good as I can be, having to deal with these guys,” I winked, as Jamie yelled, ‘hay’.

Brian really seemed like a good guy, very talented. I had watched some of Avengeds DVDs before, so I did kinda know a little about the guys themselves personality wise. He seemed like an annoying drunk though.

“So, what exactly did you do before we hired you?” He asked as he walked closer to where I was.

“I was a receptionist in a tattoo shop. I actually dropped out of high school to work there,” I shrugged. It was kind of a sore spot for me.

“Why did you leave? If you don’t mind me asking,” he seemed to pick up on my slight discontent.

“It’s a little embarrassing for me really,” I shrugged, “but you are my employer now, and you deserve to know. So if you really want I can tell you.”

“Would it make it better if I agreed to answer any question you have, if you tell me?” He smiled reassuringly.

I chuckled, “I’ll hold you to that. Well, a month before I was let go, Cameron had brought a new guy into the shop. And for the whole month, every chance he got, he would just come onto me. And he wouldn’t take a hint, or listen when I said no… I guess he must have took it as me playing hard to get, or some shit. And one day I just had enough… and I punched him in the face… and I broke my hand. So, Cameron had to let us both go.”

Brian was just laughing now, “are you kidding?”

“No,” I looked down at my feet.

“That’s actually amazing,” he patted me on the back, “did you do any damage to him?”

“Broke his nose,” I smiled shyly.

“Even better.”

“Alright, enough of that. My turn… how do you feel about Evie?”

He looked a little taken back, then thoughtful. Was he gonna answer my question honestly? He almost looked like he was coming up with some story to tell me.

“Well… I ah…” he trailed off, looking around desperately, “I need to talk to Matt real quick. We’ll talk later.”

And with that he took off. I just watched as he left. And I felt a little annoyed. I mean, I didn’t know him that well. But I had trusted him, and assumed he would stick to his word. It wasn’t like I was asking the world’s most personal question.

I went back to my job and just let it go. I would find out one way or another.