Love is a Luxury

“Wake up,” someone said.

“Oh my God, is it im-fucking-possible to sleep in around here?!” I shouted into
the pillow.

“It’s one o’clock, you need to get up,” the same voice said. I grumbled and slowly opened my eyes to see Kennedy looking at me.

“You’re an asshole Kenny,” I stated before getting up, pulling on my hoodie, and walking to the living room area. I looked to see John talking to two boys, looking roughly similar to him. I assumed they were his brothers and grabbed the bottle of water I opened last night out of the fridge, taking a long drink.

“It’s about time you got up,” Pat said from beside John.

“I’d still be asleep if it wasn’t for that little prick you have for a guitar player,” I joked.

“Oh, I’m telling Kenny what you said about him!” Pat shouted and jumped up to go find him.

“I’ve said worse to him this morning,” I laughed and sat down where Pat was seconds ago.

“Livy, these are my brothers Shane and Ross.” I waved.

“So I guess that means we’re in Phoenix, right?”

“Yup, that also means you get to meet my parents today,” I huge smile was plastered across his face.

“Oh, no. No, no, no. I’m not meeting your parents. Parents never approve of me in anyway or form, it’s not happening O’Callaghan.”

“Johnny’s brought home worse. In all honesty, I think you’re the best one I’ve seen,” Shane said, making my cheeks heat up.

John glared at him, and went on. “Exactly, my parents are cool. They’ll love you, I promise.”

“I bet ten bucks I’ll get at least one strange look, comment, or anything to that effect by the end of the night.”

“Does that mean you’ll go?” His eyes lit up.

“I guess so. Feel privileged,” I stated and got up. “I’m going to my bus, I’ll probably be back in like ten minutes depending on if Brooklyn’s there or not.”

“Can I say one thing?” Ross asked me. I nodded. “I like your accent.” I laughed and said a quick thanks before leaving.

“Rena!” I screamed when I got on the bus.

“What?” She replied. I walked to the closet with her right on my heels.

“John wants me to meet his parents. I don’t even know what to wear! Help me, please?” I begged.

She rifled through the closet before pulling out two hangers. “Here,” she handed me a pair of dark blue skinny jeans with a gray and black baseball tee. “Go try them on and
let me see.”

I followed her instructions and went to the bathroom. “Sooo?”

“It looks good, now put these on,” she threw me my black Chuck Taylor high tops with socks stuffed inside. I sat on the ground and put them on.

“Ponytail or straight?” I asked, pointing to my hair.

She cocked her head to the side and squinted her eyes. “Ponytail. Most definitely.” I nodded my head and threw my hair into a ponytail, hair spraying it to make sure not even one hair was out of place. I combed my fingers through my side bangs and made sure they looked good.

I put on eyeliner and a little mascara on my top lashes, along with a little blush along my high set cheekbones.

I took one of my ADD pills and walked back to The Maine’s bus. It was déjà vu when I opened the door and it swung out too far and hit me. “Shit, this just seems to keep happening,” John and I laughed as he helped me up. He took me back inside where all the boys were in the living room.

“That’s a nice split lip you’ve got there ma’am,” Jared commented. “Why don’t you get John to kiss it and make it better?”

“Because I’m still trying to convince you guys I’m lesbian,” I laughed and went to the small bathroom to examine my injuries in the mirror. “Holy shit, John! Look at what you did to my lip!” I shrieked.

“I didn’t mean to! It was an accident! I’m so sorry!” He cried.

I laughed and walked up to him, embracing him in a hug. “It’s okay; you’re talking to a girl who was raised with boys. My face has looked worse.”

“And I bet you were still beautiful,” his voice had lowered and he leaned in closer to me as if to make it so the boys couldn’t hear as easily. My cheeks heated up as he stepped back and went to the back lounge.

“Hey Livy, right?” I nodded when Shane asked me. “Can you come with me to go
talk to John?” I didn’t ask any questions, but followed him anyways.

“Hey guys,” John said, tuning his acoustic guitar.

“Dude, you do know that Mom’s bringing Lacey, right?” John’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets at the mention of the name.

“You’re fucking kidding, right? Mom knows Lacey and I aren’t getting back together. I don’t see why she’s doing this shit.”

“That’s where Livy comes into the situation…” Shane trailed off.

“What do you mean?” He asked.

“Dude, do you not see how fucking gorgeous Livy is?” He turned to look at me. “Sorry for being so rude about it, but had to say it somehow. Mom will fall in love with her right on the spot by her looks, and if not, her accent will totally win her in. Then she can
get to know her.”

“Olivia, will you be my girlfriend for the day? Pretty, pretty, please?!” He was at my feet with his arms wrapped around my legs.

“As long as I don’t have to do something majorly ridiculous, then sure, I don’t care.”

“Thank you, so much,” he stood up and kissed my cheek. “I’m gonna go brag about it,” he winked at me and left.

“Your brother’s fucking weird.”

“I know.” We both laughed

“Can I ask you a serious question? Like, I’m sorry for being so paranoid about this, but do you think your mom’s really going to approve of me? I mean like, John at least waited a while to be in a band. I’ve been out of high school for three weeks now, and I’m already on tour.”

“I can assure you right now she’s going to like you. She’s seen Pat do Rat Boy, and she still lets all of us boys hang out with him.”

“What the hell’s that?”

His eyes widened twice in size. “You haven’t seen Rat Boy yet?!” I shook my head. “You’ll find out soon enough.”

We walked back into the front lounge where the rest of the boys were. “Hey,” John said, wrapping a lanky arm around my waist and kissing my forehead. “Am I doing good so far?” He asked.

“You’ll be doing good when you kiss her on the lips,” Jared commented.

“It’s either this week and Jared wins or next week and Garrett wins,” I explained. It was then when his lips crashed onto mine sending me into shock at first, but then I
relaxed into it.

“Ha, ha, ha! I fucking won!” I heard Jared shout. I smiled into the kiss and pulled away.

“I hate you John,” Garrett grumbled and stalked off.

“So are you ready to go?” John asked me.

“Where are we going?”

“To meet my parents, duh.”

“Oh, right…” I replied and followed them to a blue Chevy where John was driving, I was in the passenger’s, and the two younger O’Callaghan boys were in the back
seat.

We made it to the local diner and went inside and walked up to a middle aged woman with a brunette girl, who I assumed, was Lacey. I was then when I saw the look in John’s eyes stating he had fallen in love with her all over again.

“John, it’s so good to see you Sweetie,” the woman—his mom, I figured—hugged him and kissed his cheek.

“You too Mom. Guys, this is my girlfriend Olivia,” he wrapped an arm around my shoulder and blushed. He didn’t want to do this anymore, and I could tell.

“It’s nice to meet you Livy, I’m Jenny,” she hugged me which I returned, happy I could be accepted already.

“Where’s dad?” John asked.

“He couldn’t get off work, but since you have tomorrow off, I figured you can see
him then,” Jenny explained.

We ended up getting a booth where Shane sat on the outside, I sat next to him, and John sat between Lacey and me.

While we were making small talk, I excused myself to the bathroom where I immediately pulled out my cell phone and called Garrett.

It rang twice before he picked up the phone. “Hey Livy, how’s lunch going?”

“It was good until some chick named Lacey came along. Who is she?” I bit at my thumbnail, bracing myself for the answer.

“Lacey’s John’s ex girlfriend. He broke up with her last year, and I’m guessing he still likes her.”

“He does, Garrett. I can tell in his eyes. This just fucking sucks dude,” I ran a hand through the bangs of my dirty blonde hair.

“Don’t stress out about it, we’ll talk more when you get back, all right?” I agreed and hung up the phone.

“Food’s here,” Ross announced as I approached the table.

“I noticed,” I laughed lightly and sat down where I originally was.

“So how long have you and John been dating?” Jenny asked me.

“It’s been about, how long John? A week?” He nodded. “About a week, but we’ve known each other since last year.” She gave a small nod before going back to her steak.

I picked at my salad while the table made small talk. I’d take a few bites here and there, but I ended up leaving over half of it.

“Hey, can I get your number real quick?” Shane asked. I took his phone and added my contact in it. A few seconds I received a text from an unknown number. I opened the message to see ‘Hi!’ with a smiley sticking out it’s tongue.

“Don’t text me at the table, Goofball, it’s rude,” I smirked and put my phone away.

Another thirty minutes had passed and we were still at the restaurant. It was going on four, and I still hadn’t done sound check. When I realized the conversation wasn’t ending, I butted in at the right moment. “Hey, I’m gonna walk back to the venue, I still need to do sound check. I’ll see you after the show,” I kissed John quickly on the cheek and stood up. “It was really nice meeting all of you.”

“I can give you a ride, you know that right?” John laughed, getting out behind me.

“I know, but I don’t want to pull you away from your family. It’s fine, I promise,” I smiled lightly and he leaned down and pecked my lips.

“Call me if you need anything, and text me when you get back, okay?” I nodded and waved goodbye. I left the building with my eyes welling up.

When I got a good twenty feet from the diner the tears poured out. Damn me for being so emotional. Almost everyday since this tour started I’ve cried, and I hated myself for that.

When I was halfway back to the venue and done crying, the blue Chevrolet pulled up beside me. John was driving and Lacey was in the front seat. She offered to sit in the back, but I didn’t bother making her move.

We finally got back and I went straight inside to find the rest of the band already practicing one of the acoustic songs. “It’s about time you got back,” Jimmie said.

“Sorry, I got tied up,” I sat down behind my drums. Serena gave me a sympathetic smile, knowing something went wrong and we began playing a song.

After the show that night I got my laptop out of my bus and went to The Maine’s. “Hey, Livy, can I talk to you outside?” John asked as I set my computer on the table. I didn’t say a word, just walked out the door. “Can we ‘break-up’ from this ‘relationship’?” He air-quoted the words. I nodded and went to go back inside. “Can you bunk with Kenny tonight?” The words stunned me at first, but I knew what was going on. Lacey was spending the night, and she was sleeping with him.

“Yeah,” I walked inside, grabbed my laptop and went to the back lounge. I began typing my emotions into a paragraph. When I was done, I sent them to Caleb, where I knew he would turn them into lyrics—that was our system.

I sighed and shut my laptop. At that moment, Garrett walked in and shut the door behind him. “How’d things go today?”

“You have no idea. I don’t even see why I got worked up about it. We’ve only known each other for a couple days, and he’s known her for a while. I can’t complain, but damn, he made my heart stop when he kissed me.”

“He bad mouths her when she’s not around, calling her a crazy bitch and stuff, cause I guess she gets all pissy with John when he doesn’t spend enough time with her, and he’s not big into sex, and she gets mad when he won’t put out when she wants him to. It’s really lame, actually. I don’t see why he’s back with her.”

“I don’t know either, but oh well.” He was about to talk when the ringing of my cell phone cut him off. “Hello,” I said into the receiver.

“Meet us outside,” Ross said into the phone and hung up.

“Umm, I guess I’m to report outside, so I’ll finish talking to you when I get back,” I told Garrett and pulled on my Converses.

“Where ya going?” Pat asked.

“I don’t really know, I guess I’m gonna find out though,” I smiled and stepped outside.

“OLIVIA!” Ross shouted and tackled me into a hug.

“ROSS!” I mimicked.

“We figured our brother was too much of a douche bag to hang out with you, and we didn’t think you were busy, so here we are!” Shane chirped.

“I was just talking to Garrett, he’ll understand,” I waved it off.

“So, what do you wanna do?” Ross asked.

“I don’t care, in all honesty,” I replied, shoving my hands in my pockets.

“You wanna go bowling?” Ross had a smile across his face, and was rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet.

“Y’all can’t make fun of me for sucking at it, but yeah dude, I’ll go. Let me go grab some socks and tell someone I’m leaving,” I turned to go back inside.

“Don’t tell John! Tell anyone but him!” Shane whispered as loudly as possible without shouting it. I nodded and walked on the bus.

I walked up to Kennedy as I entered the bus where everyone was in the front lounge. “Kenny, I’m going bowling with Ross and Shane, but it’s a secret, so don’t tell anyone,” I whispered in his ear.

“Text me throughout the night, have fun,” he kissed my cheek.

“I will,” I smiled and returned the kiss.

“Where’re you going?” John asked as soon as I was about to shut the door, I pretended I didn’t hear him and closed it behind me, booking it towards the green Ford Camry. I slowed down as I approached the vehicle; that’s when I heard him. “I get it, I ‘dump’ you, and you run off to hang out with my brothers. Real mature, Livy; I thought you were better than that.”

“Excuse me? Mr. ‘Let’s fake a relationship to make my ex jealous, then go right back to her like nothing ever happened with my ‘girlfriend’.’ You’re calling me immature, you better do a reality check O’Callaghan,” I poked his chest.

“Don’t call me O’Callaghan,” He snapped, pushing my hand away.

“Why not? It’s your name, isn’t it?” He gulped with no response. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got something better to do than argue with a child,” I turned sharply and climbed in the backseat of the car.

“Jimmie said I’m in charge of you, and I don’t approve of this,” he shouted before I had the door closed.

“Newsflash Babe, I’m eighteen. You can’t control shit I do, okay? I believe your girlfriend’s in there waiting for you, be careful not to call her a crazy bitch or refuse to fuck her, she might get mad.”

“Don’t act like you’ve never had sex, from what I heard you’ve had your share of dick.”

“Before you try to insult me, get your facts straight. There have only been two people, thank you, Sir.” I slammed my door and rolled down the window before saying one more thing. “I don’t see why I fell for you John. You piss me off to no extent, and I’m sorry I even met you. Tonight will be my last night on the bus, and the only encounter you’ll have with me is in between sets. I’m sorry John. I’m so fucking sorry,” I rolled up the glass and Ross drove away.

“Damn dude, that was intense. Are you okay?” Shane asked me. I nodded my head and put on my seatbelt. “You still wanna go bowling?”

“If y’all still want to, then yeah,” I shrugged. Ross continued driving until we pulled into the bowling alley.

By the end of the night, we had bowled three games, me losing all three times. “Thanks for coming with us, this was a lot of fun,” Shane smiled at me.

“Thanks for taking me. Hopefully I’ll see you guys tomorrow,” I replied while the Ford approached the tour bus.

“Yeah, if Johnny’s got his panties un-bunched by then.” John. I had forgotten everything up until now. I really didn’t want to face him, and I damn sure didn’t want to face him in front of Lacey.

“Psh, I doubt it, but no big deal. If I don’t see you guys before we leave tomorrow, it was really cool meeting you, and thanks for helping me piss off your brother,” I kissed both of their cheeks and climbed out of the car.

“I’ll text you tomorrow, goodnight Livy,” Ross said.

“Night guys,” I waved and walked up to the door of the bus. I took a deep breath before grabbing the handle. I opened it and walked inside.

“OH MY GOSH LIVY! I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!” Garrett shouted and hugged me quickly. I jumped at the sound and held a hand over my chest.

“You’re a dick, dude. That scared the hell out of me,” I laughed.

“Livy’s back?!” Kennedy yelped. “You are back! This bus sucks without you. Don’t ever leave again!”

“Sorry Kenny,” I laughed at him and ruffled his hair.

“Is it true it’s really your last night on the bus?” Garrett said with sad eyes. I nodded. “We’re having a sleepover, right here in the living room. Go get the blankets, and invite Jared and Pat,” he told me.

“Aye, aye Captain!” I saluted him and went to find them. “Dipsticks!” I hollered as I walked in the back. They were on the couch watching a movie. “Sleepover in the living room; y’all are invited,” I left and went back up front where Kenny and Garrett were making a
pallet on the floor.

“What’s the point of this?” Jared asked, throwing his comforter on the floor.

“To celebrate my last night here. I’m sure you heard about what happened between Shit-ass and I,” I rolled my eyes. He nodded.

I laid down on the layers of blankets on the floor after Garrett finished stacking them. Kennedy laid to the left of me, and Pat on the right, leaving Jared next to Kenny and Garrett next to Pat. “This has been a pretty fun week,” I stated to no one general.

“It has. Sorry you didn’t stay longer. It’s gonna suck around here for a while,” Pat said.

“What the hell are you guys doing?” John raised an eyebrow at us.

“Having a slumber party,” Jared replied casually.

“You guys are so stupid.”

“And your point is…?” I trailed off.

“Nothing, have fun with your sleepover shit. I’m gonna be a normal person and sleep on a bed. Night Assholes.”

We laid around and talked for about ten minutes before Pat cut off the lights. Everyone around me was sleeping within minutes. I sighed and rolled onto my stomach, my face towards Kennedy.

“You can’t sleep either?” He asked.

“Nope. Today’s events just keep playing over and over again in my head,” I turned so now my whole body was facing him.

“He’ll realize what he missed out in a couple days, trust me. I can help you make him jealous if you’d like?”

“How so?”

“Like, just act all cuddly, we don’t even have to kiss or anything if you don’t want to, just simple things like holding hands and sitting by each other all the time.”

“You know, to tell you the truth, that doesn’t sound like such a bad idea,” I smiled.

“See? I’m a professional. Do you wanna start now and sleep on my chest?” I didn’t reply, just did as he asked. His arms wrapped around me and I fell asleep secured in his arms.