Passenger Seat

I woke up to the sound of hairdryers on full blast and Brian's singing as he flipped through the channels on TV. The boy could never keep his mouth shut. Not even for a minute.

"If we listen to each other's heart, we'll find we'll never cheat and fall apart," he belted the lyrics as if he'd written them himself, straight from his heart. "And maybe love is the reason why! For the first time ever, we're seeing it eye to eye!" he finished dramatically, though his expression was casual. Rolling onto my side, I grabbed the pillow I'd been sleeping on and chucked it at his head.

"Look who's finally up!" he exclaimed, making sure the whole room heard him as he flung the pillow right back at me. I sat up, finding Jess standing at the end of the bed in front of the mirror on the wall just above the dresser. She was dressed in a dark grey tank top and black skinny jeans. Steam wafted above her as she straightened her hair.

"Jess! I'm out of hairspray, can I borrow yours?" Stephen called from the bathroom. She broke her concentration away from the mirror and whirled around with an incredulous look on her face.

"It's the first night, how are you already out?" she asked, looking stunned. Stephen only shrugged, offering her no other explanation. Finally with a sigh and a roll of her eyes, she picked up her hairspray and tossed it over to him.

"Gracias!" Stephen said and disappeared back into the bathroom. It was then that it hit me. They were getting ready for the show tonight.

"What time is it…?" I asked slowly, glancing down at my big t-shirt and sweatpants attire. Not to mention, I didn't have a trace of makeup on and I was sporting some serious bed-head at the moment.

"3:30," Brian answered and I almost lost it. They had to get to the venue, unload their equipment, and do soundcheck by 4:15. As I looked around the hotel room, I saw that everyone was just about ready to go. Even Brian, who usually took the longest to get ready for any occasion, was sitting on his bed like a king, all done up in a nice white v-neck shirt, a black leather jacket, and dark wash jeans. A dog tag hung from his neck, the silver plate sparkling in the sunlight that filtered in through the curtains. If I wasn't so mad that no one had bothered to wake me up earlier, I would have been impressed.

"Why didn't anyone wake me up?!" I growled, jumping up to my feet and dashing over to our shared dresser. I yanked open my designated drawer and pulled out a pair of dark blue skinny jeans and a cute quarter-sleeved rugby striped shirt Jess had gotten me as a gift awhile back from Forever21. I was sure I looked like a hot, flustered mess as I scrambled to put together an outfit for the evening. It didn't help that I could feel Brian's eyes watching me run around like a mad woman with pure enjoyment.

"I'm grabbing a bite to eat before soundcheck. Anyone want to come?" Josh announced, pulling on his shoes and heading for the door. He must have felt that it was starting to get a little too crowded in here too.

"I do!" John jumped to his feet, ecstatic at the mention of food.

"I'll come too," Jess said and packed up her straightener. She tousled her hair a bit, looking herself over in the mirror before leaving with Josh and John.

The door clicked shut and it was just Brian, Stephen, and me now. I had about twenty minutes to get ready and Stephen was still in the bathroom. "Yo Gomez!" I shouted, rapping my knuckles against the door. "Some of us don't have two hours to get ready! Get out!"

Brian snickered, still alternating between finding amusement in watching TV and me. I would have flipped him off, but my mind was on one track right now and that was getting Stephen out of the bathroom. Finally, after more yelling and a few empty threats from me, the lock clicked and the door swung open. Stephen emerged with a pleasant smile on his face, his hair perfectly coiffed. If I wasn't in such a hurry, I might have jabbed him in the stomach, but instead I brushed past him and slammed the door shut. I quickly undressed and tugged on my jeans, pulling my top on over my head almost simultaneously. I frantically combed out the knots in my hair and smoothed it out with Stephen's straightener that was, thankfully, still hot.

Then I did my makeup and after catching my breath, gave myself a final once-over to make sure I was decent enough to go out in public.

"Dana!" Brian banged his fist on the door. "We gotta go!"

"Well maybe if someone had woken me up earlier, we'd already be there by now!" I shouted back.

"But you just looked so sweet, snoring and drooling in your sleep! How could I disturb that?" he retorted. Finally, I opened the door, coming face to face with Brian.

"I. do not. snore."

"So you admit that you drool then?" he smirked with that annoying little brother kind of attitude that made me want to flick him in the head.

"Can we just go please?" Stephen cut in. I'd almost forgotten he was still here. "I would like to eat before we play if that's all right with you two."

Brian just smiled and opened the door, gesturing out to the hall. "Sure. Lead the way, Dan-Dan."

I narrowed my eyes at him, fighting to keep my lips drawn in a tight line. "Have I ever told you how much I hated you?" I said, walking out into the hallway. "Because I do…very much."

"God, will you two just make out already?" Stephen groaned as we made our way to the elevator. Brian and I just looked at each other and laughed.
***
Inside the venue was a fairly small, squared room packed with people. The chatter of hundreds of different conversations buzzed in my ear as I pulled CDs and shirts out of boxes and set them down on the table to display. Everyone was off backstage, probably getting buzzed and ready to go on stage. The Summer Set was scheduled to open the show, then Last Man Standing to keep the crowd begging for more, and finally Heroes & Underdogs to bring it home. I glanced down at my phone every few seconds, anxious for time to start moving faster. Looking up at the empty stage from my booth in the back, I could barely contain my excitement. There was nothing better than watching my friends do their thing on stage. From the way the crowd reacted to the look of pure bliss on all their faces, you could tell that they loved every second of it.

"Someone looks anxious," Mac, Last Man Standing's merch guy, commented as he watched me bounce up and down on the balls of my feet. I'd met him a bunch of times before at shows since The Summer Set and Last Man Standing did a lot of touring together. We were both from the same area, so it was hard not to run into each other in the local scene. In my opinion, Mac was the epitome of cool. Yeah, I know that's kind of dorky, but he really was. He had the tattoos and the skater hair and the overall look of a total badass, but then he was the funniest and nicest person you could ever meet. I'd spent plenty of my weekends listening to his drunken musings on life which, at times, were actually pretty deep. He was like the big brother I never had and one of my closest friends.

"Shut up, I'm excited," I frowned at him, pulling out my phone to check the time for what had to be the billionth time tonight. He shook his head and laughed at me, folding his arms over his chest.

"You're acting like this is your first show, Dee."

"Well it's just that it's their first out of state show," I explained with a shrug. "I want it to go over well."

"We've seen them kill it up there so many times. They'll win these kids over like that," he snapped his fingers and I smiled, my jumpy nerves calming a bit. He was right. I knew he was, but the knot in my stomach was still there. I wondered how Brian and the rest of them could do it. How did anyone go up there on stage, not knowing a single face in the crowd, and just hope they were accepted? "How about I get us some drinks?" Mac offered and I nodded, figuring I could something to hold me over until the show started and the merch rush began. He headed off towards the bar, disappearing into the sea of people.

I tried to distract myself by reorganizing the bracelets and CDs that were spread out on the table. After I was finished with that, I turned back to the t-shirts and refolded any that looked sloppy. I actually breathed a sigh of relief as I heard footsteps approach behind me and whirled around, ready to take my drink from Mac. When I turned around though, it wasn't Mac who was standing in front of me.

"Oh hi," I said, a little caught off guard, "can I help you?"

He put his hand on the back of his neck, his blue eyes looking up, past me, at the wall of merch I'd set up earlier. "Uh…" he sang softly, hesitating for a moment before returning his gaze to me, "I'll take a bracelet."

"That'll be five dollars," I said, "but if you get their CD too, which is five also, I'll knock the price to seven dollars. Sound like a deal?" I spoke quickly, my tongue moving like rapid-fire. He paused for another moment, thinking it over.

"Yeah, why not," he finally decided and pulled out a five and two singles. I got a bracelet, still wrapped in its plastic, from the box under the table and grabbed a CD from the stack in front of me.

"There ya go," I smiled, happy to have made the first sale of the night. He looked as though he were about to say something, but quickly retracted when Mac returned to my side with our drinks. "Thank you!" I took my cup from him graciously and took a much needed swig. Mac bowed his head to me in return and took a sip from his own drink. As he brought the cup to his lips, he noticed my customer still standing there as if he were waiting for something.

"Seth, dude, what are you doing out here?" Mac asked and my brows immediately knit together, confused. Then Mac noticed the bracelet and CD in his--I guess Seth's--hand and cracked a smile. "Buying merch?" he cackled and I grew even more confused.

"Uh…yeah," Seth replied awkwardly and I swear I could see his cheeks turning red. "Supporting everyone, you know?"

"Is that so? Well how about a little something from my table?" Mac smirked, looking very amused with the situation that was unfolding. "How 'bout a bracelet to go with that one?" he insisted and with a heavy sigh, Seth pulled out another five. "White or blue?" Mac asked and Seth shot him a nasty look.

"Blue," Seth grumbled through gritted teeth. Mac's smile never faded though as he fished a brand new blue bracelet out from the box and dropped it into Seth's palm.

"See you later, bro," Mac grinned as he took Seth's five dollars and stuffed it into the miniature, tin money chest. Seth rolled his eyes and glanced at me one last time before shuffling away towards the backstage area. I stood there for a few moments with a what-the-fuck-just-happened look on my face until finally, I couldn't stand it any longer.

"What was that all about?" I turned to Mac, who had gone back to folding and stacking shirts as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened. "Who was that guy?"

"That was Seth Martin," Mac answered as if it were obvious. "He plays bass for Heroes & Underdogs. He also has a thing for merch girls apparently."

I was about to tell him how ridiculous he was, but suddenly the lights dimmed and the music playing from the speakers stopped. The crowd erupted into excited shrills and screams and I knew it was time. I forgot about Seth and Mac and grabbed my drink, chugging it as my friends took the stage.