Smash Into Me

The sun beat down hard on the city of Chicago, making it the most perfect and worst day for the infamous Warped Tour. It was August first and that meant a new band would be joining the VersaEmerge bus, which made everyone less than pleased. Eight people on one bus was enough torture, another eight was going to make it the seventh level of hell.

“Be nice, Kay,” Mike Finn, Versa’s tour manager, said sternly, pointing a finger at the younger girl in front of him. She scoffed, rolling her bright blue eyes before picking up a bin of merch. She held it on her hip that was slightly cocked out. Mike’s eyes narrowed, “Seriously, Kayleigh, be nice.”

“Finn, I am nice. It’s Si you gotta worry your pretty little head about!” She laughed, walking off with the tub of merch. It was eight in the morning and everyone was buzzing about, getting everything set up for the afternoon of fun and partying.

Kayleigh was invited on Warped Tour by her best friend of eighteen years, Sierra Kusterbeck, vocalist for VersaEmerge. Kayleigh, of course, jumped at the chance to be on the road with her best friend for three months, partying all day and night. She liked her job as merch girl. She was a friendly and outgoing girl, always drawing large crowds to her. Fans loved her just as much as they loved the band. She was now anchored with the band, with her best friends. She couldn’t love life anymore.

Kayleigh was now walking through the main grounds, through the sea of tents being pitched, tables being put out, t-shirts and shorts going up, and CD’s going out. Her eyes scanned for the VersaEmerge tent. Blake and Anthony had the job of setting up the tent and table, while Kayleigh held the job of hanging the shirts, shorts, putting out the CD’s, setting up her chair, tip jar, etc.

Her eyes finally spotted the white tent with the blue outerspace splash behind “VersaEmerge”. She smiled and trekked across the lawn, dead set on getting to that tent. Once she reached the tent, she slammed the bin down on to the table, causing Blake to jump. He turned around, eyes wide. His eyes softened and smile grew on his face once he realized it was only Kayleigh. “Hey, Blake, Anthony,” Kayleigh smiled, crawling over the top of the table.

“Hey, Leigh,” Anthony greeted, waving a bit. He unfolded the chair Kayleigh would be using later, and took a seat in it, propping his feet up on the table. Kayleigh kicked his feet off the table, making him laugh. “Need help putting up the shirts?”

“Yes, Anthony, I need your help. First time all tour, I need your help,” She replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes. She was definitely Sierra’s best friend. The two were so alike; it was like they were separated at birth. They had the same sense of humor, same sense of style, same use of sarcasm, and so on. People always thought the two were sisters. Sierra and her found it hilarious. “No, I don’t need any help, you idiot.”

“No need to insult me,” Anthony mumbled as he fit his way through the small gap between their table and the table next to theirs, leaving Kayleigh to her job. Kayleigh unpacked the bin, taking a small shirt out of each pile, hanging it on the metal backdrop behind her. She pinned a small notecard with $20 scribbled on it in black ink next to each shirt. She had made those notecards the first day of tour, right before the gates opened. Mike had yelled at her for forgetting to do it the night before.

Kayleigh sighed, the heat already getting to her. She ran a hand through her dark brown hair, pushing it away from her face. “I’m gonna go get the other bins,” She muttered to Blake, crawling back over the table. She cursed herself for wearing jeans. She wished she could go change into a nice pair of shorts, but it was too late, she was running late, as usual. Gates would be opening in about an hour and she still had to carry three more bins from the bus to the tent. That would take forty minutes, tops.

As she carried a black bin back to the tent from the trailer, she wasn’t exactly paying attention to where she was going. She ended up colliding into someone. “Fuck!” She groaned as the bin slipped from her grip. The top popped off and the shirts and CD’s spilled out on to the hot asphalt.

“Fuck, I’m so sorry,” The guy she had bumped into said frantically, scrambling to help pick up the spilled items and put them back in to the bin. He grabbed the top from the ground and popped it back on.

“Thanks,” Kayleigh mumbled, picking the bin up from the ground. She rested it on her hip and ran her free hand through her hair. Her eyes finally met the guy she had bumped into.

“I – I’m Josh,” The guy stuttered out in a thick British accent, sticking out his hand for Kayleigh to shake.

Kayleigh raised her eyebrows, staring down at his outstretched hand. Her blue eyes floated up and met his. He felt embarrassed as he put his hand back down to his side. “Kayleigh,” Kayleigh smirked. She found the boy standing in front her, squinting his eyes from the glare of the sun, pretty cute.

He was wearing a white tank top, exposing his pasty white arms. Those would be red and burned by the end of the day. He had on cut up jean shorts that stopped just right above his knees. Kayleigh couldn’t help but to think that was hilariously cute.

“Do you…need help?” Josh asked, eyeing the bin she held to her hip. “It’s the least I could do, yeah?”

“Who are you?” She asked, completely ignoring his offer to help. Kayleigh didn’t like it when the guys on tour asked if she needed any help. She felt like they were only offering because she was a girl. She was a girl that could do anything with no help whatsoever, and she was going to show those guys that she could.

“What?” Josh furrowed his eyebrows together. He had offered her help and she just shot him down. That surprised Josh. Usually, a girl would be thrilled to be offered help, especially carrying heavy bins of merch.

She rolled her eyes, “I don’t have time for this shit. I’ve got to go.” She turned and walked back to the tent.

The entire time she walked back to the tent, that blue eyed boy was on her mind. Who the hell was that kid?