Waiting for My Sun to Shine

This morning John woke up to find himself in Atlanta, Georgia. Being on a bus made it harder for him to keep track of the days and each city they ended up in. With only one week into tour he found it harder each day to avoid Hallie. The only time he had away from her is when he's on stage performing or sleeping in his bunk through the night to the next city. What caused this strain in their friendship? Well, a lot of tension built up over the years and a girl named Ashley.

"John, your phone." Pat Kirch handed him his phone. In a flash Pat was gone; John got up and saw that every single bunk, except for Kennedy's, was completely empty. Which meant that everyone left the bus to find their breakfast. Looking down at his phone he realized that he missed 7 phone calls from his girlfriend. So he went to the front and took a seat at the table opening up his laptop. He clicked on Skype and there Ashley was already connecting the call.

"Baby, what happened?" She was in a panic. Her blonde hair was perfectly styled and her face was covered in make-up. Something that John never liked on her.

"Morning to you too." He yawned. "Why are you all dressed up?"

"I can't look nice for when I Skype with my boyfriend?" She asked. "And why haven't you answered my 7 phone calls?"

"I was sleeping." He yawned once more. Next thing he knew he was staring at Hallie who had just walked onto the bus. John watched her as she held onto a portrait of what looked like a fan painting of Kennedy and a Pioneer CD in the other hand. With a lot of hesitation, she took a few steps forward before completely stopping.

"Where's-?"

"Sleeping." He answered without taking his eyes off the screen, he muted his mic and turned down the volume on Ashley instinctively to avoid an awkward situation. John watched carefully as Hallie set down the portrait on the couch next to him and turned on her heel to walk off the bus. But as soon as John turned up the volume and un-muted his mic on his laptop, Hallie came back and shoved the CD towards him without making eye contact.

"Sign it." She told him. He grabbed a marker beside him on the table and quickly wrote his name down with a heart beside it. In one swift move Hallie reached for the CD and again turning on her heel, left the bus in a flash.

"Babe, was that Hallie?" Ashley was more upset then curious.

"Yeah." He sighed.

"I thought I made it very clear, I don't want her anywhere near you." She scolded him like a child. "It's bad enough that I have to worry about girls swooning over you each day, but to know that she's on tour with you just-"

"Ash, she's Kennedy's little sister, and nothing more." John reassured her. "Plus, you don't have to worry about any girls swooning over me on this tour. I'm just focused on you and the baby."

Much to John's dismay, Ashley was six weeks pregnant. Of course it wasn't planned, but according to his parents, John had to take full responsibility. Ashley and John's relationship was a rocky one. It all started when they went to senior prom together. From that moment on, they dated, and broke up, dated, and broke up. Dated some more, and broke up. But, during Christmas break Ashley came to John with the unexpected news and since then they've been trying to deal with their situation gracefully.

"I love you." Ashley blew him a kiss.

"Love you too." John smiled before signing off Skype.

Once Hallie found out Ashley was pregnant, it was the straw that broke the camels back and from that point on she knew where she stood with John. Surprisingly, not very many people were aware of all the flaws between John and Hallie's friendship, they didn't want Kennedy finding out at all. Eric was the only person on tour who knew every detail going on between both his best friends. Since the tour began, he could only feel the weird tension whenever the two of them were in the same room and no one else. It of course was driving him crazy, but John and Hallie both talked to him separately and made it clear they never want a single soul finding out about their past or present.



"Bullshit." Eric said as Austin put down four cards stating that it was four 7's. They were playing 'Bullshit' but they made it interesting when Hallie suggested for every loss, they not only have to pick up the cards on the table but take a shot of tequila.

"Fuck!" Austin smacked his hand on the table as he grabbed the pile of cards in the middle. When he flipped his four cards over he had one 7, two 3's and a queen. Chee already filled up a shot of tequila to the rim and slid it towards his friend. Austin opened his mouth and poured the tequila in and swallowed without complaint.

The show in Atlanta, Georgia went smoothly. Hallie was getting the hang of how things work with the help of Larry Schachner and Britton Billik. Now they were on their way to Charlotte, North Carolina with Eric joining their bus, while Trey switched over to The Maine's bus and Pat Kirch went over to A Rocket to the Moon's bus for the drive. Hallie was sitting at the table with Austin, Eric and Chee getting drunker by the minute as they played their card game.

"Alright, three 8's." Eric put down three cards in the middle again.

"Bullshit." Hallie told him. Eric smiled and flipped the cards over, indeed he had three 8's. Everyone shouted and laughed as Chee filled the glass once again and handed it to her. Like a champ, Hallie swallowed the shot of tequila without making a face of disgust. At this point she had too many now to even taste the difference.

"Is it me or did the bus stop?" Chee slurred his words. A drunk Hallie pressed her face against the window and tried to make out where they were exactly, but all she saw was black. Next thing she knew Larry opened the door and climbed up the steps.

"Our bus broke down. So a few of us are coming on here and the other half are on Rocket's bus." He said as Trey came back on the bus along with Kennedy, Peter, Jared and John. While Larry, Garrett, Matthew VanGasbeck, and Gary Ferenchek joined A Rocket to the Moon's bus.

"Party time!" Jared Monaco shouted dropping his backpack, pillow, and blanket on the floor. Hallie stared down at her cards as everyone made themselves comfy. She could feel Eric's eyes on her too but she didn't bother to looking up. John had walked over to their table and examined the tequila bottle.

"Drink the rest of it. We're done." Austin encouraged him. So John did, he chugged what was left of tequila and slammed the bottle down on the table.

Hallie had no way of getting to her bunk because Austin was blocking her in. She was hoping that because it was so late that all the boys would want to sleep, but that wasn't the case. They were all very hyper and that energy bounced off between them for a few more hours; they yelled, sung, and danced around the bus. Hallie had no choice but to endure it. She finally was able to take a very short nap, only thirty minutes. But when she did wake up, the entire bus was dead silent, she looked around her and noticed everyone passed out. Getting out of her bunk she went to the back lounge and slid the door open only to find John by himself, still awake.

"You know, every time I hear this song I think of you." He told her. Hallie who had the door half way closed stopped and stared back at him in shock.

John had his laptop resting on his legs and went through his iTunes pressing play. Transatlanticism by Death Cab For Cutie filled the back room and Hallie quickly pulled herself in and shut the door behind her so it wouldn't wake up the rest of the boys. She took a seat furthest away from him and watched his eyes. John was wasted and now it all started making sense to Hallie. She decided she wouldn't say anything back to him because she wasn't exactly sober either, the thirty minute nap didn't do much help for her.

"It use to be my ringtone, until Ashley made me change it because she hates the song." John who was aimlessly staring at his laptop, shot a look at Hallie almost startling her. "Can you believe that?! She hates this song! How can someone hate this song!"

Hallie did something of a shrug and stayed quiet. She couldn't speak to him, she didn't know how to anymore. In her mind John really hurt her and she couldn't shake the thought of him with Ashley because she wasn't right for him. Everyone felt that way but never had the heart to tell him. John didn't exactly want to be in the situation he is in now but like his mother told him, everything happens for a reason, and although John hated that saying he couldn't help but agree.

"I'm not ready to be a father, I can barely take care of myself." John choked up.

Hallie felt sorry for him but resented him at the same time. She wasn't sure if comforting John was a good idea since they were both drunk and her words wouldn't come out right, in fact she was scared that she would make it worse since she had so much anger built up towards him over the last two months. Hallie thought back to last year when everything was perfect but realized now that it was far from, it only appeared that way because she was on cloud nine.

"I don't know how to fix this..." John almost whispered. Hallie got up and faced him. John set aside his laptop and took in all of her features. Her gorgeous features that he once never noticed and took for granted.

"I do." She told him. "Go to sleep and hopefully when you wake up you won't remember what you said last night."