Nicotine and Faded Dreams

After a painfully boring Denver, Colorado show and a 12 hour overnight drive we had arrived in Las Vegas. We had 2 days off there before the next show and I was beyond excited. I had never been to Las Vegas before and it certainly was a sight to see. Mike parked our bus among the slew of buses that were already in the venue’s private parking lot. He parked next to a tour bus that looked familiar to me, but I couldn’t quite place it.

“I…am so….EXCITED!” I half-yelled while looking at the tall buildings and lights out the back window of the bus. Travis covered his ears and laughed at my enthusiasm.

“So you’ve never been here, what should we do first?” Travis asked smiling.

“Well since I’ve never been here and you’re the expert, bring me somewhere awesome.” I was too excited to even think.

“Wanna go gamble all your money away at Caesars Palace?” He asked jumping up from the couch.

“Hell yeah,” I replied laughing and following Travis out of the bus. It was about a 10 minute walk from the bus to Caesars. Danny, Hunter and Charles came along with us but ran away like kids in a candy store once they got inside.

Caesar’s Palace was enormous and completely beautiful. I followed Travis to the gambling area which was full of sounds, flashing lights, and an ocean of people.

“Slots?” Travis inquired loudly over the racket that was occurring around us.

“Yes please. I don’t think I’d be very good at table games,” I laughed.

Travis and I sat down at two side by side penny slot machines. We stayed there for a few hours talking, laughing, gambling, and most importantly getting free drinks. Travis ended up winning 100 dollars while I surprisingly won 150 before we decided to call it quits, both of us very tipsy and extremely hungry.

I held onto Travis’s arm for support as we walked through Caesars Palace looking for something to eat. I found a McDonalds and excitedly tugged on his arm like a little kid would, “Look food, let’s go!”

“Wait.” Travis said urgently and grabbed onto both my shoulders, shaking me a little. I laughed at this. “We need to find a Chipotle.”

“A what?” I asked confused.

I had never seen such a shocked look on any living creature before, “You’ve…never been….to Chipotle?” He was stuttering and slurring his words at the same time and he looked so horrified that I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Sorry dude, I don’t even know what that is.”

After I said those 9 words Travis immediately grabbed my hand and we were running through the lobby of Caesars Palace. We both laughed like 3 year olds as we ran hand in hand down Las Vegas Boulevard, dogging very confused looking people until finally Travis skidded to a stop in front of a restaurant with the words “Chipotle Mexican Grille” written on it in curvy white lettering.

“This,” Travis said excitedly while standing in front of the restaurant and spreading his arms open wide, “is Chipotle. And you’re about to have a foodgasm.”

I laughed at this as we both happily ran inside.

After ordering we sat down next to each other in a booth and dug in. I was only on my first bite and already I was beginning to understand what Travis meant, “Ok you’re right, you’re right,” I said between mouthfuls of burrito, “Definite foodgasm.”

“Told ya.” He said cockily, staring at his burrito like he was completely in love with it.

After finally finishing all of our food, Travis and I went back to Caesar’s Palace to meet up with the rest of the guys. After finding them and learning that all of them had lost what they gambled, except for Danny who only won 20 bucks, we decided to head back to the buses. When we got back there were bonfires all around. Everyone was sitting around drinking, playing music, roasting marshmallows, and just relaxing. It was perfect. At the bonfire near our bus I saw the members of All Time Low which I would definitely need to be introduced to later, I knew they were really good friends with the guys. I also saw the members of a ridiculously familiar band and one long brown head of hair that I remembered oh so well. I took a running start and about half way there he saw me, a look of shock on his face that morphed into excitement as I pushed him backwards with the force of my running hug, “DEREK OH MY GOD.”

“Leila, what are you doing here? I missed you girl.” Derek said hugging me back tight.
Derek Sanders is the lead singer of Mayday Parade, and I guess they were playing Warped Tour 2012 as well. I never did look up the rest of the bands that would be playing, I was too excited about touring with We the Kings. The last tour I did was a year ago where I was the Merch girl for Mayday Parade’s 4 month American Tour. Derek and I became really good friends during that tour, we’d stayed in touch but I hadn’t seen him since then, or thought to ask him if he was playing Warped.

“I’m Merch girl for We the Kings.” I said excitedly as I worked my way around the circle, hugging the rest of the band that I hadn’t seen in a year. I looked back to Travis and he had a strange expression on his face, which turned to a half smile once he noticed I was looking at him, “I was their Merch girl last year guys. Do you know each other?”

“Yeah, hey guys.” Travis said unenthusiastically. Danny, Charles, and Hunter found a place by the fire near the other bands and the already present Coley and Scooter. Travis sat at the back, out of the group and I shared a seat with Derek as we caught up on old times. I glanced back to Travis once and a while, he was drinking a beer in the back, starring into the fire. 4 beers and 2 cigarettes later Derek and I had thoroughly caught up on old times and everyone started to disperse back into their buses since it was nearly 3 AM. I gave Derek a huge hug, promising I would see him and the rest of Mayday later. I looked around at the people that were still around the fire, one of them being Travis, sitting in that same spot.

I sat down next to him on the gravel, “Hey I never really thanked you for the adventure we had today.”

Even in the dark, I could see Travis’s lips pull up into a smile, “No problem Leila, I had fun.”

“I’m glad. We should have another adventure tomorrow if you want.” I said excited at the prospect of another day spent with my new fellow red-headed friend, “Us ginger’s have to stick together.”

Travis laughed at this and picked up a strand of my hair, “I’m sorry but this is clearly not natural, you definitely are not a real ginger.”

I swatted his hand away, “Hey, I have a ginger’s soul okay.”

“Word on the street is that gingers don’t have souls.” Travis laughed.

“Nah, I think ginger’s have the best souls.” I said smiling.

Travis looked at me and smiled back, “Alright I guess you can be an honorary ginger then.”

“Why thank you sir, and does this honorary ginger status give me access to more adventures with you tomorrow.”

Travis smirked, “Of course my fair ginger lady,” Travis said bowing.

I got up and curtsied, flipping my hair as Travis got up and laughed. We both walked into the bus, still laughing and not caring if we woke the rest of the guys up. I passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow.