Just The Way I'm Not

Jack giggled as he peaked around the corner watching and waiting for the perfect time to strike. He glanced behind him and smiled wickedly at the people behind him. Alex, of course, was there along with Mike and Max. They had gotten sick of waiting in the dressing room a half hour ago and decided to go see what they could do while the crew set up the stage. They had been at the venue for a little over two hours already and Jack was actually surprised that it had taken them that long to escape to go find something to do.

At the moment, all the crews from the bands, not including the band they had never met that still wasn’t there, were all setting up and discussing different things about the stage. Jeff and Evan were setting up their sound booth; Flyzik was talking with Curran and Rob who were the other managers, while the rest of their crew was setting things up. Vinny wasn’t doing anything at all and was just twirling around in the spinning chair behind the sound booth were Jeff was currently yelling at him.

“Ok, so what’s the plan?” Mike whispered loudly as they all huddled together. Nothing that the bassist did was quiet though. From his booming voice to obnoxious laugh you would always be able to find him in a loud crowded room. He was just that loud.

“Mate, we’ve been over this already,” Max sighed as Jack and Alex started to snicker as Max explained the plan again.

“Ooh right!”

Jack wanted to smack his face against the wall. But he didn’t, he needed to stay focused. They were on a mission and his team was depending on him. Wow, that just sounded like some war movie where they were on a covert mission that could end in death. Wait, that’s exactly what was going on, what was he talking about?

“Do you got the duck tape?” Alex asked as Jack nodded and held up the new roll of tape they had found in their dressing room. “Awesome, let’s do this!”

They all put high fived before turning back to the main room. Alex raised his hand and counted down from five and when he got to zero, he and Jack stood and made their way cautiously into the room. No one noticed them and honestly no one would. They were too busy getting ready for their first show of the tour so they were totally distracted. Especially Zo and Flyzik who had their backs turned to them and were discussing something about lighting or whatever.

When they stepped up to the sound booth Jack saw that Max and Mike were already moving toward Flyzik and the others as a distraction. Jeff glanced up from what he was doing and must have known what they were up to since he gave them a grateful look as they snuck up behind Vinny and Alex motioned for the tape. Jack nodded and handed it to him and the older boy quietly ripped a piece off and crouched behind Vinny.

The merch guy had given up spinning in the chair since moments before he had almost been about to puke because of it. So he was now sitting there slouched in the chair with his head resting against the back and eyes closed. He was the perfect target. Jack motioned for Jeff to turn on some music low so in case Vinny made noise no one would hear. Mike and Max were being the perfect distractions already to Flyzik and Zo and with the music, they would never be caught. Hopefully.

“Wait,” Alex said as he shot a curious glance to their merch guy. Jack watched as Alex leaned forward and listened to him. “He’s freaking sleeping. The dumbass is sleeping on the job!”

“Are you serious?” Jack asked as he walked forward and sure enough, he could hear snores coming from the short boy. “Wow this boy is no fun.”

“What should we do?”

“Continue our plan of course!”

Alex nodded and took the duck tape from Jack and then ripped off a strip of it and carefully hovered over the sleeping merch guy. He cautiously lowered the tape onto the boys mouth and pulled back quickly leaving the tape just in case he woke up. But nothing happened. They were safe.

Jack took the tape from Alex and ripped off another strip and went to work on taping his hands to the armrests of the chair while Alex started on his head. By then both Jeff and Evan had given up trying to work and watched Alex and Jack giving them ideas on what to do next. Jack glanced up to check on Mike and Max and noticed that they were running out of ideas to distract Flyzik with.

“Dude, we’ve got to go. Max and Mike are failing at their job.” Jack said as Alex nodded and finished taping Vinny’s feet to the chair before standing up. They had got through 3/4th of the tape and could have used all of it if they had had more time but Flyzik was about to flip out and they needed to get out of there.

“Here, hide this under the desk. We have to go save Mike and Max.” Jack said as he handed the almost used roll of tape to Jeff and followed Alex toward their tour manger and nodded to the two boys.

When Flyzik saw them he audibly sighed and glared at them. “Really? You two have come to annoy me too?”

“What, we just came to see our favorite tour manager and his trusty sidekick to see if they were doing ok. We care about you guys.” Jack replied as Zo shot him a look and he just smiled sweetly in return.

“Whatever, go back to the dressing room. I don’t need you guys being distracting too.” Flyzik pointed in the direction of their room.

“Aw, you’re no fun. We just care!” Alex said as Flyzik rolled his eyes.

“Go,”

Alex and Jack obeyed and walked with Mike and Max back towards the back rooms. Just as they were about to walk out of the room, a sudden screech made them stop and look back before bursting out in giggles. Vinny had just woken up and was trying to fight against the tape but it wasn’t giving.

Everyone started laughing filling the echoing room with sound as they watched Vinny struggle to get out. The merch guy was pitching a fit and cursing loudly making some of the other band members come out to see what was going on.

“Whoa, what happened to Vinny?” Rian asked as he walked up to Alex and Jack who were doubled over laughing.

“Dumbass was sleeping on the job so we decided to mess with him,” Jack explained between laughs.

Everyone started talking at once and making the noise even worse in the room while Vinny continued to cop a fit. He struggled against the restraints and his arms were getting red from fighting against them and he was yelling profanities at everyone and anyone he laid eyes on.

“Hey! Hey! Guys! Shut up for a second! And Jack and Alex, get Vinny out of the chair!” Flyzik said as his phone started to ring. Everyone obeyed, except Alex and Jack that it. They went over to Vinny but just started to poke and make fun of him more. Flyzik just rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to his still ringing phone and answered it. “Hey Kora what’s up?”