Livin' the Dream

I played nervously with the bracelets on my wrists, feeling my heartbeat increase and my face get red.
“I can’t do this, guys.” I said.
“Of course you can,” said Damon.
“What if they don’t like us?” I asked.
“Lynn,” Alice sighed. “Don’t even start.”
“Look, we’re all really nervous,” said Adriana.
“But we can do this. Besides, we’ve always wanted to play a tour like this. The Ready Set, All Time Low, Never Shout Never, and We Are The In Crowd. This is like our dream tour. It’s what we’ve always wanted to do,” said Celeste.
“We’ve never done anything this big before…” I said uncertainly.
“But they brought us here for a reason, Lynn. We can do this. We’ve done shows before. This is our chance to show them we have what it takes,” said Damon. He placed my guitar in my hands and I relaxed slightly at the familiar feeling of the cool metal against my skin.
Our tour manager and friend, Renae, walked up to us. “Showtime, guys.” She nodded at Alice, our drummer, who needed to be the first one on stage. Alice nodded and wrapped her arms around Damon, her boyfriend and our lead singer.
“Good luck,” he whispered, tucking a hair behind her ear.
She nodded and ran out to the stage. The cheering increased as Alice began to play the drum beat for the first song. Sixty seconds later, Renae nodded at Celeste, our bass player and my best friend, who nodded as well and hugged me before running out on stage. I heard Celeste join in with the bass line. Renae nodded at Adriana, our lead guitarist, who grabbed her guitar and gave us one long look before running out on stage. I heard Adriana start playing her part and Renae nodded at me.
“I can’t do it,” I said in defeat. Damon looked between me and the stage a few times, as if deciding something, and then he took my guitar in one hand, and threw me lightly over his shoulder with the other.
“DAMON!” I shrieked. “PUT. ME. DOWN.” I hissed. Damon just laughed and walked out onto the stage. I silently thanked God I had decided against wearing short-shorts today, deciding on jeans instead, as the entire audience had a great view of my butt right now. Damon set me on my feet gently in front of my mic stand and handed me my guitar, putting the strap over my shoulder. He walked to his mic and started talking into it.
“Sorry about that, guys. Lynn had a bit of stage fright. But she has nothing to worry about, right?” Damon said into his mic. The crowd cheered. “We are ‘Some Assembly Required’ and this song is called ‘Our Girl!’” I started playing my part on my guitar. Damon started singing the first few lines and to our surprise, most of the crowd was singing along. Damon stepped away from his mic stand as I started singing the girl part of the song. Damon mouthed the words silently, running around the stage and giving fans high fives. He returned to his mic and sang along with me as we reached the chorus. By the end of the song, all my stage fright had been forgotten. Before our set ended, Damon and I reminded everybody to buy our merch and that we’d out by the van after wards to meet the fans. We Are The In Crowd came on after us, and Tay high fived me as I was running off the stage, her running on.
We cleaned the sweat off ourselves backstage, and I made sure to take off my contacts, knowing I’d be too tired to do so after wards. Alice grabbed Damon’s red hoodie off the couch and slipped it on. Celeste grabbed her blue striped hoodie and I grabbed my pink one, Adriana grabbed her cardigan and we walked out to the van to greet fans.
The fans came in small groups as the rest of the bands were still playing. They came out during the set of whichever band they didn’t really mind missing. You could hear the music from outside anyway. When asked how they’d heard of us, the common answer was that they’d looked us up when our name was announced as the support for this tour. Another was that they were subscribed to Hopeless on you tube, so they’d seen our videos. Another was that they’d found us on tumblr and had been around since before we’d gotten signed. We liked those last fans the best. They knew all of our names, while some of the others only knew mine and Damon’s. The other bands started to come out and stand by their buses after their sets and more and more fans came out when All Time Low, the last band, finished their set. I was signing someone’s t-shirt when I felt eyes on my back. I finished and turned around quickly, my eyes meeting the ice blue of Jordan Witzigreuter’s, who was standing next to his bus, staring at me. I smiled at him and he smiled back. We stayed like that until a fan walked up to him and asked him for a picture, and we both turned back around. That was wierd… I found myself blushing. I’d had a huge crush on Jordan since high school. I smiled to myself and went back to signing stuff and talking to fans.
When all the fans had left, we all piled into the van with Renae and Xander, Adriana’s boyfriend, who’d just emerged from the venue. Xander was helping us out on this tour by selling merch for us and driving for us when Renae was tired. Renae took the first driving shift and Xander climbed into the passenger after stuffing all the boxes of merch into the trailer of equipment. The van had four rows of seats. Damon laid on his side on the back most seat, Alice lying in front of him, his arms wrapped securely around her. I claimed the seat in front of theirs, immediately laying down and pulling out my ipod. Celeste lay in the seat in front of mine, passing out as soon as her head hit her pillow. Adrian took the last seat. Xander leaned his seat back and she layed with her head close to his. They whispered to each other, smiling widely. Renae followed the other buses out of the venue parking lot and onto the highway. I put my headphones in my ears and selected the ‘sleep’ play list, falling asleep to the sound of The Ready Set.
***
When I woke up the next day, Damon and Renae were the only ones still asleep. Alice was sitting next to Celeste in Celeste’s seat, Renae was sprawled out in Adriana’s seat, Xander was driving and Adriana was riding shotgun.
“Mornin’, sunshine,” Alice greeted me.
“Ugh,” I groaned. “Mornings fucking suck.” I complained. Celeste chuckled at me and rolled her blue eyes.
Alice was sitting cross legged and she was barefoot. Everyone was still wearing what they were wearing last night. Damon wore a grey v-neck and black skinnies, his red jacket had been returned to him and he was using it like a blanket. Alice was wearing her blue flower print dress and black leggings, the ring on her left finger shining in the sun coming in from the window. It was a replica of the royal engagement ring, given to her by Damon on their three year anniversary, two years ago. Celeste was wearing a white Toy Story t-shirt, with a cartoon Woody on it, that read: ‘The Best In The West,’ black skinny jeans, and her blue hoodie, an orange beanie keeping her long brown curls somewhat tame. Adriana was wearing a pretty blue tank top, a navy blue cardigan, skinny jeans, the promise ring Xander had given her when we’d graduated. It was small and silver, with a little red heart on it. Renae wore a white Harry Potter t-shirt with Hedwig on it under her Batman hoodie, jeans with holes in the knees, and a Hunger Games wristband on her wrist. I wore a black Glamour Kills t-shirt and skinnies, my pink hoodie, and my ring. Xander was wearing a grey Vans hoodie over a black t-shirt and skinny jeans. There was a pile of shoes on the van floor. I recognized Damon’s black Vans, Adriana’s blue Vans, my pink Hello Kitty Vans, Renae’s Converse, Celeste’s red TOMS, and Alice’s white wedges. Xander must have his shoes on.
“I’m surprised you’re not over there listening to Damon snore, like a creep,” I said, smirking at Alice, who blushed.
“Oh, shut up, you. I didn’t want to wake him,” she retorted, sticking her tongue out at me.
“Hey, Cel,” I said suddenly. She looked up at me and raised an eyebrow.
“What?” She asked.
“We are currently on tour with both your husbands,” I stated, winking at her.
“Both of yours, too,” she pointed out, giggling. Alice looked at us like we were insane.
“You two are idiots,” she stated.
“But you love us!” I reminded her, climbing into the seat in between her and Celeste and cuddling up to her. She rolled her eyes. Adriana watched us from the rear view mirror and laughed. “Are we gonna stop soon? I want to get out of these clothes.”
“Stopping at a Pizza Hut soon,” Xander answered.
“Yay, pizza!” I squealed.
Celeste pumped her fist in the air. “Yes!” We laughed and high fived.
“I’m gonna go wake Damon,” said Alice. She climbed over the seats all the way to the back and knelt in front of Damon’s face. This is gonna be good. I pulled out my phone, pulled up the camera and pressed record. She shook him gently and whispered, “You need to wake up, love.” When this proved futile, she grinned mischievously at my camera and pressed a long kiss to Damon’s lips. His eyes flew open and she pulled away, giggling. Damon sat up groggily and Alice sat next to him. I turned the camera off and turned away when they started making out. Ew. I silently thanked God that Adriana and Xander weren’t nearly as bad. When we got to pizza hut, we all went into the bathrooms to change into clean clothes.
We wanted to all sit together, but there weren’t enough tables in the tiny restaurant for all of us, so we ended up taking our pizzas and bottles of soda outside and sitting in a huge, misshapen circle on the lawn. I sat between Alice and Celeste. Damon was seated on Alice’s other side, his arm wrapped securely around her. Renae was seated on Damon’s other side, looking a bit uncomfortable between Damon and one of the boys from NSN. I’d never listened to them, I didn’t know any of their names, except for Cris, because Celeste was in love with him. Renae didn’t know who he was, and she seemed a bit intimidated by him and his many tattoos, she leaned a little closer to Damon. On Celeste’s other side was Adriana, and on Adriana’s other side was Xander, their hands intertwined between them. On Xander’s other side was the crew from Never Shout Never, next to them was the crew from All Time Low, then Rian Dawson, Zack Merrick, Jack Barakat, and Alex Gaskarth. Next to Alex was We Are The In Crowd, starting with Tay Jardine, then Cameron Hurley, then Jordan Eckes, then Mike Ferri, then Rob Chianelli, then some people I could only assume to be their crew. After that it was The Ready Set, starting with Jordan Witzigreuter next to Rob, then Andy, Deryck, and Travis, whose last names I could never remember. Then there was Jason, their merch guy, and then the rest of the crew, who was sitting next to the NSN boys, and then we’ve come full circle and we’re back to Renae.
“Hey, Lynn, is it?” Alex asked me.
I looked up at him. “Yes?”
“I like your shirt,” he laughed. I looked down and blushed, realizing only now that I was wearing and ‘All Time Low: Lost In Stereo’ t-shirt.
“Fuck,” I said. “I forgot to remember not to bring this shirt on this tour. Dammit.” Alex laughed.
“I think it’s cute,” he said.
“Thank you…? I think.” I laughed nervously. I noticed that Christofer Drew was staring at Celeste from his place across the circle. I nudged her and nodded toward him. She looked at me and shrugged, she didn’t know why.
“HEY!” Yelled Jack.
“WHAT!?” Yelled Alex in response.
“The little one has a Blink-182 bracelet! Can we keep her!?” Jack asked, pointing at Celeste. Everyone laughed.
“No, Jack, you can’t keep her.” I said.
“But whyyyyyy?” He whined.
“‘Cause, she’s mine,” I stated, wrapping my arm around Celeste, who rolled her eyes and pushed me off.
Christofer Drew then asked us to introduce ourselves, and when no one spoke up, I decided to introduce everyone.
“Well, I’m Lynn, I’m nineteen, and I sing and play back up guitar. That’s Celeste, she’s also nineteen, she plays bass and she’s been my best friend since we were in preschool. That’s Adriana, she’s nineteen, she plays lead guitar, and that’s Xander, also nineteen, they’ve been dating since freshman year and he’s our merch guy. That’s Alice, she’s nineteen and she plays drums. That’s Damon, he’s the oldest, he’s twenty-one, and he sings. They’ve been dating since freshman year as well. And lastly, that’s Renae, who is the youngest, eighteen, which is funny, ‘cause she’s the most responsible one and our tour manager,” I said, pointing to each of them.
After that, we started talking about people who’d inspired us, the kind of music we listened, the members of All Time Low, We Are The In Crowd and The Ready Set were delighted when I answered with them for both questions, while Celeste answered 5SOS along with ATL and WATIC by answering them, along with Blink-182 and Fall Out Boy, for both questions. Everyone had finished their pizza and was moving around to get closer to the people they were talking to. The band managers were all sitting in a small circle, discussing boring band manager stuff. I ended up sitting cross legged in front of Jordan Witzigreuter, talking about cats. He stopped abruptly, looking down at my hand with an expression I couldn’t quite identify. Disappointment, maybe?
“Is that a promise ring or something? Like from your boyfriend?” He asked.
“Nope,” I smiled. “It’s a purity ring. I’ve had it since I was fifteen.” I slipped it off and showed him the inside, where it was engraved with the words: True Love Waits.
“Oh,” he said. Sounding…relieved? “Do you have a boyfriend?” He asked.
“No,” I answered honestly. “Ridin’ solo at the moment. You? Are you still with Katelyn?” I asked. He looked a bit shocked that I knew his girlfriend by name, but he shook his head.
“Nope,” he said. “Broke up a few months ago. She was cheating on me.”
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry,” I touched his arm comfortingly. “She seemed so nice…” I muttered. I heard a particularly loud laugh from Celeste, and turned around, to find her sitting in front of Christofer Drew, both of them laughing at something I didn’t hear. He seemed to have taken quite an interest in my best friend.
“Jordan?” I asked. He looked up at me. “You’re close to Chris, right?” He nodded. “Do you think I can trust him with my best friend?” Jordan bit his lip. His hesitation was enough. I sighed. “I can’t do anything, anyway. Cel will do whatever she wants. I’ll just have to be ready to pick up the pieces when shit hits the fan.”
“It’s cute, how protective you are of your friends,” he said.
I shrugged. “It makes me happy if they’re happy. Making sure everyone is happy and healthy is my job. I’m the mom.” He nodded.
***
I ran off the stage, happy and exhausted at the same time. All Time Low had invited us to a party on their bus, and we, of course, said yes. We wouldn’t be leaving to the next venue until tomorrow morning, so it’d work out that we’d be able to be back in our van by bus call and we wouldn’t end up trapped on their bus. We cleaned up and put on our pretty clothes for the party, except for Renae, who’d opted out of the party.
When we arrived, the party was in full swing. Alex and Jack were, surprise, surprise, already drunk. There were tons of people. I had to keep myself from following her when Celeste followed Christofer into the back lounge. Nothing’s gonna happen. Nothing’s gonna happen. Nothing’s gonna happen. Nothing’s gonna happen. I found Damon in the crowd, sitting on the couch with Alice in his lap.
“Damon, keep an eye on Cel for me, okay? I have a really bad feeling about tonight.” I said. He nodded. I smiled and walked away from him. I knew I could trust him to keep an eye on her. Him and Alice had promised each other a long time ago that they wouldn’t touch a drop of alcohol until they were both legal. And since Alice was still two years away, neither of them would touch it. I found Jordan sitting on the couch on the other side of the room, looking adorable and awkward, with a Gatorade in his hand. I smiled and sat down next to him.
“Not drinking?” I asked, practically having to yell to be heard.
“Nah,” he said. “I don’t really drink. What about you?”
“No,” I shook my head. “I don’t really drink all that much either.”
“Want a Gatorade?” He offered.
“Sure,” I said. He got and ventured into the crowd, returning a few minutes later with a green Gatorade in his hand. “Thanks. Green’s my favorite.” I said. God, I’m lame.
“Mine too,” he smiled.