Like a Crash the Whole Thing Spun Out of Control

The next three weeks practically flew by with out me even realising. I hadn’t even packed my bag until Garrett came storming into my bedroom complaining about how he couldn’t decide which shoes he should pack.

“Wait, what?”

“What?”

“What day is it?”

“Uh, Thursday…” Garrett glanced around my room awkwardly, unsure if I was spontaneously turning crazy. “Uh, where are your suitcases?”

“Holy fuck! I haven’t started packing!” I exclaimed, “Garrett, get the fuck out, I need to pack!”He watched me rush around yanking a suitcase out from under my bed, and chuck half of my closet into it before he backed out of my room.



“Good morning my darling!”An obnoxiously homosexual voice exclaimed happily, waking my up. “How exciting is today going to be Har, it’s tour day!”

“Oh, my god Caillen,” I groaned sleepily, “I hate you so much.”

“Harlow Winter Isabelle Bennett, how dare you!” I opened one of my eyes to stare up at my band mate. He was standing over me with his mouth open and his right hand on his hip. “I resent that!”

“I resent you right now. Why are you in my room?”

“Because Angus and Trent are downstairs with Garrett, so your Dad sent me to wake you up because, well, I think it’s because I like penis, so if you’re naked or something I wouldn’t attempt to sex you.”

“Did you really just say sex you?” I asked, sitting up and rubbing my eyes to get rid of the sleep. He nodded and pulled me from my bed so he could lye down in my place.

Neither of us spoke as I wondered around my room pulling on a whole bunch of clothes and then pulling socks and a pair of black vans on to my feet, and then finishing my outfit with a leather jacket and a blue beanie.

“Ready yet?”

“Yeah.” Caillen grabbed my suitcase before leaving; I followed behind him with my backpack and bathroom bag after I checked my room once more for any forgotten items. “Hey, wait up!”

Angus and Trent were sitting out on my front porch smoking cigarettes while Garrett was leaning against the wall by the front door arguing with someone on the phone. I gave him a questioning look and he replied with a roll of his eye.

“Morning boys.” Trent turned around and smiled. Angus on the other hand grabbed me and gave me a good morning noogie. “Ow, fuck you Angus.”

By 6 O’clock, Mr Kirch pulled up with The Maine’s van to pick us up along with our gear and bags and then we were on our way to the Tempe airport where we would meet up with The Summer Set and head out together to Salt Lake City, Utah.

Everyone was exceptionally tired and cranky, and it showed with how quiet everyone was, everyone but Tim, who was busy bossing everyone around like there was no tomorrow. Jared’s usual smile was nowhere to be found as he sat slumped in his seat with his eyes half closed. Kennedy sat scrunched up in the back with a dark look. Pat was asleep against the side of the door and John had his headphones in and was ignoring everybody, so while Angus, Trent and Caillen put our bags and gear in the back of the van, I climbed into the van and sat down beside John.

Slowly, he pulled one of the plugs from his ears and smiled at me. “Morning princess.” His voice was rusty and hoarse, so I gathered he was packing a really sore throat.

“Morning. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, why?”

“You don’t sound good.” A small smile played across his mouth.

“I’m fine Harlow.” I nodded once and then leant over so I could place my head on his shoulder and rest my eyes. “Go to sleep. I’ll wake you up when we get to the airport.” The last thing I remember before falling asleep was the feeling of John moving his arm so he could place it around my shoulder.



“Harlow, wake up, we’re here.” John was still sitting beside me when my eyes opened. He was smiling at me as he spoke. “Your dudes went with my dudes to take bags and gear to the baggage claim.”

“Caillen helped?” I questioned with a disbelieving look. John laughed and nodded his head. “My Caillen? My gay-boy Caillen?”

“Yes.”

“Wow. I thought he was beyond lazy.”

John and I left the van together with our backpacks and our plane tickets, and headed into the airport together. People in business suits hurried around with their handbags or briefcases. An old woman ran right into John, told him off for being in her way and then marched off.

We found the rest of the group, plus The Summer Set by the gate for our flight. Garrett and Pat were sitting on seats listening to their iPod’s; Jared was off to the side saying goodbye to Tessa, who was crying. Kennedy and Tim were standing with Brian Dales and Jess Bowen and the rest of The Summer Set and the rest of my band were MIA.

John went over to Tim, Kennedy, Jess and Brian, while I went to go sit beside Garrett and Pat.

“Have a nice sleep?” He asked.

“Yeah, I had a good pillow.”

“Johno is a fucking stick, how was he a good pillow?” He chuckled. “Fuck.” He muttered, yanking his phone from his pocket. He stared at the screen for a minute before he rolled his eyes and sighed.

“What?”

“Rachael won’t stop texting me.” Rachael Evans was Garrett’s on-again, off-again girlfriend. “I broke up with her the other day and now she’s become some clingy little bitch.”

“How long is this break-up going to last?” Garrett gave me a pointed look.

“She fucking cheated on me this time Harlow.” I hadn’t been expecting that, so I awkwardly patted his shoulder.

“Sorry Gare.” He shrugged.

“Attention passengers for flight: 4.6.3 to Salt Lake City, Utah. Your flight is now boarding. Please make your way over to gate: 5 thank you.”

“That’s us guys!” Tim called. Everyone got up and went over to the ticket lady standing by the gate entrance. The Summer Set went first, then Flight For Earth and lastly The Maine.

Turns out I was sitting between Jess and Caillen on the flight, which I was okay with, seeing as they were both pretty good friends of mine. Caillen put his eye-mask on as soon as we sat down and went straight to sleep, so I turned to talk to Jess.

“How excited are you for the tour?” I asked.

“I’m keen on not losing my phone every night on this tour,” she laughed, “and it’s our first tour in a bus, so that’s exciting!”

“It’s our first time in a bus too!”

“Will you two shut the fuck up?” Caillen groaned, “I’m trying to fucking sleep and your voices are just so fucking annoying!”Jess laughed and I rolled my eyes.

“You are so sassy in the morning Caillen. I love it!”

“Fuck up!”

“Don’t speak to the ladies like that Cay,” Trent teased, leaning over his seat. Caillen stuck his middle finger up towards Trent’s voice, but accidentally stuck it up at an old woman who gasped and glared at him. “Nice one, dick head.”

“Oh, my god, fuck off you guys, I’m trying to fucking sleep!”

“Who got your panties in a bunch?” Angus, who was sitting beside Trent, was suddenly leaning over the back of his seat to stare at Caillen. “You’re boyfriend not give you some happy time before you left?”Trent guffawed, while Jess and I giggled.

“Like, fuck! I just want to fucking sleep, you guys!”

“Guys,” suddenly Tim was standing beside Caillen give us all an angry look. “Everyone from the front of the plane can hear you! Trent and Angus sit down and all of you leave Caillen alone!”

“Thank you!” Caillen threw his hand sup in the air.

Garrett Nickelsen:
What the fuck are you guys doing back there?

Harlow Bennett:
Caillen’s being a little bitch, so Trent and Angus are teasing him.

I didn’t intend to text Garrett anymore, so I switched off my phone and shoved it deep into my pocket to await take off.

“ Good morning passengers, this is your captain. Please turn off all motorized devices, and turn your attention to the hostesses for your safely demonstration. We will be leaving in approximately 5 minutes. Thank you.”



The bus we got was massive. It had twelve bunks, a kitchen, a back lounge, a bathroom and a front lounge so to speak. There were six metal lockers by the door as you came in which we were told were for the four of us, for our manager Simon and the last one was for the crew to share.

Caillen call his bunk first. He had always said that he was going to get the bunk closest to the kitchen, and so he did. Angus got the one closest to the back lounge on the bottom, Trent got the top right at the back an I got the one across from him.

“Alright, we have an interview as soon as we get to the venue,” Simon yelled through the bus.

“Fucking hell Simon, you’ve been here a whole of like two minutes and already you’re bossing us around!” Caillen exclaimed. Simon looked like he was going to throw his clip-board at him until Angus poked his head around the door blocking off the bunks.

“Don’t worry about him Simon. He’s been a little sassy asshole since we got on the plane this morning.”

“Fuck off Angus.”

“Anyway, we have an interview as soon as we get to the venue, so I’d get ready if I were you guys. Harlow, I need to speak to you, so come here.” He waited until I was sitting right in front of him before he explained what he needed. “Kevin has asked me to ask you if you could do a small promotional video for the Warped Tour’s YouTube page. Basically he just wants you to get followed around by a camera crew tomorrow for the fist day, do a short interview, see a couple of sets and then they’re film your whole set. Is that good with you?”

“Uh yeah, I’m cool with that.”

“Good, I’ll tell you more when I find out more.” He grabbed his Macbook and stalked off towards the back lounge to type out an email or something.

HarlowBennett: Hey guys, we’re on our way to the first venue for #WT! I’ll be doing a day-long video tomorrow, so check it out on the Warped Tour’s YouTube channel!

Once we arrived at the venue and came in the gate we could see an ocean of tour buses and vans spread out around the parking lot. People were running here and there, getting in the way of the parking busses.

“It’s going to be a big one this year,” Trent grinned over my shoulder as we stared out of the front window. “I’m so fucking glad we have a bus because I couldn’t do another whole summer in the back of a van with shitty air-con.”

“Amen on that brother!” Trent and I fist-bumped as Joe, our bus driver parked the bus by The Maine’s.



That night was the traditional start of Warped Tour party. Every band was going, every crew member for every band was going and there was going to be a ton of free booze so it was obvious that most people were going to be shit faced quickly and suffer a the worst hangover they ever had. Bands on Warped Tour partied hard.

“Harlow, Jess is here!”

“Send her in!”

“Jess come in!”

“Okay!”

Jess was behind me several moments later already nursing a corona bottle in her left hand and her iPhone in her right.

“You sure you want to take your phone to the party?” I laughed. Jess looked down at her phone and apparently decided against taking it when she tossed it up into my bunk. “Remember it’s there or I’ll change all of your numbers to crack-whore.”

“But then I’ll think every number is yours?” I laughed.

The buses around my bus were silent. There weren’t people stumbling around acting like complete and utter idiots… Yet. Jess walked into the catering area first. It was packed to say the least. People were dancing, some were singing karaoke and others were sitting around tables drinking and catching up with old friends.

“Harlow Bennett!” It was Jack Barakat. I’d become friends with him the year before on our first Warped Tour and we’d been good friends ever since. “Why didn’t you come and see your favourite All Time Low member when you got here?” He was pouting which made me smile.

“Oh Jacky, how I’ve missed you!”I threw my arms around his shoulders and kissed his whiskery cheek.

“Back the fuck up!” Someone yelled, “is that Harlow Bennett?!”

“Hey Alex, how are you going?”Alex shrugged and pried Jack away from me so he could give me a hug. “You boys look good!” They glanced at each other and grinned, nodding their heads.

“So are you, you fine piece of ass!” Alex exclaimed happily. He took a sip from his beer while he looked around. “Where’s my main man Caillen this fabulous evening?” Jack looked offended for a minute so Alex gave him a huge sloppy kiss on the cheek and he laughed, pushing him away.

I hadn’t actually seen Caillen since we’d gotten on the bus at the airport that morning, so I wasn’t too sure where he was.

“Uh, I don’t know,” I laughed, “he was in a bitchy mood this morning so we kind of ignored him all day.”

“Using his sassy homosexuality on you hey?” Alex laughed.

“Pretty much. If he were a girl, I’d say he was on his period.”

“I fucking love that sassy motherfucker!”

After talking to Alex and Jack a little bit longer, I excused myself to go get a drink and so I could go and say hello to other people from the tour that I knew. I went passed the boys from Paramore, they told me all about the fiasco with the Farro brothers, which I gasped and shook my head. I spoke to Rian and Zack, the rest of All Time Low about how we hoped the tour would pan out. I fell over Travis from We The Kings and Derek from Mayday Parade who were wrestling on the floor and finally, I found myself standing with Cassadee Pope from Hey Monday and Hayley Williams from Paramore discussing how we would look after our voices this summer.

“Goodbye cheese!” Hayley pouted. Cass and I laughed. “Seriously though, I heard the dudes in catering were making those creamy cheese mushrooms again this year. I’m so bummed I can’t have any!”

“It’s called ‘sneaking Hayley,” I laughed, tapping my nose.

“Yeah, but they’ll know I did it if I come back with that weird voice I get after I eat dairy.”

“That’s true,” Cass sighed. “Damn I hate dairy right now!” Hayley and I nodded sadly.