Just The Way I'm Not

Jack woke to hear a loud rumble come from outside. He groaned as he pushed the curtain to his bunk away and jumped down and walked to the front of the bus. The clock on the microwave read 2:34 am in bright red numbers and a bright flash came from behind him. He turned to the window to see that it was raining pretty badly with lightning and thunder with it.

He sighed as he went back to his bed and found where his phone was checking if he had any texts. When the screen came back blank, he rolled his eyes and turned his phone on, mad at himself that he had actually turned it off for once. The one time that it shouldn’t have been off, it was.

When it was on, he found he didn’t have any texts and wondered if that was a good or bad thing. He knew that Soph was terrified of storms; she had been since she was little, and she used to text him or he would sneak into her house to make sure she was ok. No texts meant that she was actually asleep and didn’t realize there was a storm, which wasn’t likely she was a really light sleeper, or she didn’t want to bother him thinking he was sleeping.

He was just glad that the storm had actually woke him up. He was a really heavy sleeper and even slept through his alarm, which usually was set to the highest volume for just that fact. But now that he was awake, he wouldn’t be able to fall back asleep until he knew that Soph was ok.

To: Soph
Hey babe, are you ok?

Not even a minute later, his phone buzzed alerting him that he had a new text. So his suspicions were right. She was awake.

From: Soph
I guess… I knew it was too good to be true that no storms had come this whole tour. And now that it was the last day, it comes. Stupid Europe.

To: Soph
I’m sorry, I wish I was there to hold you.

From: Soph
Me too. But you should be getting some sleep. I’ll be fine, I promise. I have a sleep mask that I was going to put to good use.

To: Soph
Ok, just text me if you need me. I don’t mind. Night x

He settled back in his bunk and grabbed his iPod since the thunder wasn’t going to let him fall asleep any time soon. Picking one of Blink’s albums, he let his eyes close as Mark and Toms voices lulled him to sleep.

He was woken to feel something buzz against him and he rubbed his eyes trying to figure out what was going on before remembering Soph and the night before. Grabbing his phone, he didn’t bother to see who the new text was from but opened it quickly to see if Soph was freaking out again.

From: May
Hey baby bro, my flight just landed. I should be there soon.

He had to read it over again to understand what was going on. Then it hit him. It was last day of tour and May had flown out to come and see them. He had totally forgotten that she was coming after everything that had been happening lately. He hadn’t even told May that he had found Soph again. Oh was she going to freak out when she saw her again.

May and Soph had also been really good friends. Before Soph had left, May had been a junior in high school so she still lived at home and whenever Soph would come over, it was usually the three of them hanging out and having fun. May loved Soph and was going to be so excited when Jack explained everything to her.

To: May
Ok, are you going to stop at your hotel first and then come over like usual?

From: May
Yup! I can’t wait to see my baby bro again! I’ve got a surprise for you.

Jack couldn’t help but smile as he hit reply. Oh he couldn’t wait to see May’s reaction. His surprise was going to blow hers out of the water. There was no comparison.

To: May
I do too. You’re going to flip out. My surprise is ten times better than yours!

From: May
Or really now? We’ll just have to see about that. I’ll see you in a little bit x

He set his phone down and jumped out of his bunk grabbing some clothes and pulling them on. There were a few other people up but Alex and Rian’s bunks still had the curtain closed so he figured it was pretty early since Rian wasn’t up. Rian and Zack were usually the early risers while Alex and he usually got up at the last moment possible and usually not without a fight from whoever was forcing them out of bed.

But today was different. It was the end of tour and then they would be heading back to the US. And May was coming and there was probably going to be an insane after party after the show ended that night, and he could only imagine how the rest of the day was going to turn out.

Once he was dressed, he went to the front of the bus to see Zack sitting there eating something and Vinny sitting next to him nursing a cup of coffee. He gave them a cheery good morning and earning two confused looks in response. Shrugging if off, he grabbed himself a cup of coffee and saw that it was only ten to nine and understood why both of the boys had looked at him weird. But he really didn’t care.

He got off the bus and looked around to see Soph talking to Addie by their van and headed over to her.

“Morning,” He said wrapping his arms around her and kissing her cheek. She turned in his arms smiling when she saw it was him and kissed him.

“Oh coffee!” She snatched the cup from him and took a sip. “And good morning to you too. Why are you even awake this early?”

He shrugged, “Just going to be a good day.” He took the cup back from her and downed the last of it before handing her the empty cup back and she stuck her tongue out at him. “Oh and by the way, I totally forgot to tell you. May is coming tonight for the last show.”

“She’s what? Are you kidding me? May’s here?” Soph was now bouncing up and down and freaking out about it. He was sort of dreading when they saw each other again. They were both going to be jumping up and down and screaming. It was going to be a long night.

He literally had to put his arms on her shoulder stop her from moving so she could actually read his lips. “Who Soph, calm the hell down. Yes, she’s coming. Her flight just landed and she has to get her bags and check into her hotel but she should be here soon.”

“May’s coming?” Rian asked as he walked over to them. Jack turned and nodded to the drummer and he smiled. “Sweet! I haven’t seen May in forever!”

“Hey Phia!” Kora yelled behind Soph and Jack tapped her on the shoulder and pointing to her tour manager. Soph bit her lip and he just shrugged telling her to go and she kissed his cheek before walking over to her manager and starting up a conversation with her.

Rian and Jack turned to walk into the venue and Rian showed Jack where everything was. When they got to the main room, We Are was already sound checking and they stood around listening a little bit before Flyzik shooed them out to go get Alex and Zack in there since they were up next for sound check.

They turned and went back on the bus to get the two boys ready. Well, Zack was already ready and was just playing some video games, but Alex on the other hand was still dead to the world. Jack offered to go get him up and headed back to the bunks and pulled Alex’s curtain open to see the singer lying on his stomach and his hair covering his face as he slept.

“Yo Alex! Get up!” Jack yelled as Alex’s face scrunched up and he groaned rolling over to put his back to Jack.

It took another five minutes to get him up, and Jack had actually go get Zack to pull him out of bed. But once he was up, he got dressed and they all headed back into the venue for sound check. He took his guitar from Danny and then headed on stage playing a few notes and looking around. Jeff and Evan weren’t at their tables from once and Vinny was the one standing there adjusting the sound for the amps and mics.

“Vinny! Go away!” Alex yelled in his mic making the merch guy jump. “I’m telling Evan that you’re messing up all his things!”

Vinny flipped him off, “he asked me to! He’s busy doing something else and asked me to come and just make sure everything working.”

“Out of all the people in the crew, he asked you? Seriously?” Jack asked as Rian started to play a beat.

“Jack! Leave Vinny alone!” Someone said and he looked over to see his sister standing there. He smiled as he walked to the side stage forgetting all about sound check and hugged her. “Hey Jackalope!”

“How are you? When did you get here?” He asked as someone yelled May loudly into a mic. They turned to see Alex rushing over and hugging her too.

“I didn’t know you were coming!” Alex said as he let her go and she rolled her eyes pointing to Jack.

“Talk to the one you call a best friend. He was supposed to tell all of you.” She replied as Jack stuck him bottom lip out in a pout. “Oh don’t get that face with me!”

Jack saw someone walking over behind them and was about to turn back to May when he had to do a double take. Then when he looked at the persons face better he nearly fell over when he saw who it was.

“Joe! What are you doing here?” Jack asked as he threw his arms around his brother making him take a few steps back to catch himself since he wasn’t prepared for his little brother to nearly jump on him.

“Hey Jacko, May dragged me along as a surprise.” Joe replied as Jack turned back to his sister and hugged her again.

“You’re amazing! Now do you want to know you’re surprise?” He asked as she shrugged and nodded. He went to Danny giving his guitar back to him since he was basically done with sound check and then took her hand and pulled her down the hall to the dressing room with Joe following behind them.

Thankfully when they walked in, Soph wasn’t there so he pulled them over to Tay and Jordan so they could entertain his siblings while he went to find his girlfriend. He walked back down the hall and toward the main room to check but didn’t find her. So he turned back to the hall and headed outside to see if she was by the van. He was about to text her when her van door opened and she walked out with Addie and Kora behind her. When she saw him, she gave him a huge smile and instantly walked over and kissed him.

“What’s up?”

He took her hand and began to lead her back inside the venue. “My brother and sister just got here. I told them that I had a surprise for them. Do you mind?”

“Of course not! I haven’t seen them in forever!” She replied as they walked toward the dressing room.

When they walked inside, thankfully, his siblings backs were turned to them so they didn’t see them walk in right away. He told Soph to wait for a moment and let go of her hand walking toward May with a grin.

“So May-may are you ready for your surprise?” Jack asked knowing he was going to piss her off.

She turned with a glare, “Jack, you know only one person was ever allowed to call me that. Why are you even bringing her up? You have barley talked about her in ten years.”

She was right, Soph was the only one to call May that and she got mad every time someone else beside Soph did so. But it was ok, because she was going to forgive him in a few moments anyway.

“Yeah I know, but what if I said that I know where said person was?” He asked as May furrowed her brows and gave him and yeah right look. “No seriously,” He turned to where Soph was still standing and gestured for her to come over to them.

When Soph walked over, she smiled slightly at May who was trying to put together what was going on. She looked Soph up and down a few times then tilted her head from side to side. Jack was seriously about to smack her, but then something must have clicked and his big sister gasped.

“Soph?” She breathed as Soph nodded slightly and May pulled her in for a huge hug. “Is it really you?” She asked once she finally let her go. “Jack what the hell is going on? How long have you known that she’s here? What are you doing in Europe?”

Jack laughed as he pulled Soph to his side and she wrapped her arms around him. “Just calm down May, seriously, before you have a heart attack. We’ll explain everything. I promise.”

She just glared and nodded demanding that they do it soon before she start smacking the truth out of them. He just rolled his eyes and he led his brother and sister into one of the other empty rooms of the venue so that he and Soph could explain everything that happened on tour so far. He started explaining from the beginning, about Soph’s car trouble and how they actually hadn’t met until the second day of tour, with Soph adding her bits and pieces into the explanation. May and Joe just sat there listening intently and Jack was surprised that his sister didn’t try and interrupt in the middle.

As if he had planned it, Flyzik burst into the room and glared at Soph and Jack. They both had just finished explaining and were all sort of sitting in silence letting his two siblings let everything soak in.

“There you two are! I’ve been looking all over for you! Did you forget how to answer a freaking text message, let alone check your phones?” Flyzik asked as Soph and Jack shared a look before grabbing their phones.

Jack hit a button so the screen, “Hey look! I’ve got a message!” Jack said just to piss off his tour manager, and judging by the glare he gave him, it had worked.

“Yeah, a little too late.” Flyzik muttered as he motioned for them to stand up. “The shows about to start and Soph needs to play, so lets go. We have plenty of time after the show to talk.”

They all stood following Flyzik down the hall towards the stage. Jack noticed and May and linked arms with Soph and didn’t plan on letting her go any time soon and he couldn’t blame her. He had felt the exact same way when he had first seen Soph again, but knew his sister was going to be ten times worse. May thought of Soph as the little sister she never had and now that she had her back, Jack knew that he wasn’t going to get a lot of alone time with his girlfriend anymore.

When they got to the side stage, Soph tried to calm the rest of her band down when they saw her come up and then they got ready before heading out on stage. Jack stood by his siblings as Code Name For Crushes first song started to play and laughed when he saw May’s reaction.

“Wow, she’s really good!” May shouted over the music. Jack couldn’t help but smile as he agreed and soon he was dancing stupidly with May and Alex.

They finished their last set of the tour and came back stage as We Are The In Crowd got ready to go on. May and Soph were bouncing up and down being complete dorks as We Are began their set and they all had fun enjoying their time.

Soon it was time for Jack to go on, he gave Soph a quick kiss before he followed the rest of his band on stage and the crowd started to go nuts. Jack began the first few notes of their first song and everyone else joined in and soon Alex’s voice echoed through the room above all the screams. Their set was great as usual with Jack and Alex making fun of each other in between songs and being stupid and having a great time.

When they finished, they all walked off and May attacked him in a huge hug and he had to have someone help him get his freakish sister off of him. The crew took their guitars and began to tear down the set while the rest of them went back to the dressing room to change and head back to the bus. Jack grabbed a quick shower before heading back to the others and then walked out into the chilly night and to the bus. He could already hear music coming and when he walked on he saw that all the other bands had joined them and there was dancing and voices all around him.

He quickly went to put his stuff in his bunk and when he turned around, he saw Soph standing there with a shy smile. She walked forward without saying anything and leaned in and pressed her lips to his. They thankfully had a moment alone for the first time that day and he was going to take advantage of it so he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer and deepened the kiss.

When they pulled apart, Jack was slightly breathless and he smiled stupidly to Soph as she took his hand and lead him towards the front of the bus to get back to the after party. He grabbed himself a drink and joined Soph as she started dancing and didn’t really care if he looked like a total fool. This was the best tour yet and he was going to make sure that their last night was just as great as the rest of their time had been.

This was the perfect ending to the best tour and right then he didn’t care what the future had in store for him. As long as he had his friend and family there was nothing he was worried about. He had a feeling that whatever was to come was going to be interesting to say the least but right then, he didn’t care. He was just going to enjoy this moment and let whatever comes come…