Pour Some Sugah On Me

"You're not supposed to be here!"

"Yes I am?"

"No you're not!"

"Unless this isn't the bus that's supposed to take me to 20 different states, then I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to be here." Kennedy said, confused. "Which brings me back to my first question, what are you doing here?"

"It was supposed to be a surprise." I mumbled. No one said anything for a while. Kennedy just stood there (without a shirt which by the way is very distracting) by the bunks with an even more confused expression. Neither of us moved an inch. Kennedy opened his mouth to say something but a booming voice echoed from the front of the bus.

"It's my damn bus Halvo I'll go in here if I want to!" Aw great. Only two words could explain the look on John's face when he saw me. Shock and amusement.

"Surprise?" It came out as a whisper. "I'm your new merch girl."

"You think that you can just stop talking to me for a week then pop up in my bus unexpectedly, handle our merch and go on tour with us?" He crossed his arms. He looked but I could see his lips twitching.

"That was the plan."

"You sure are something else Katherine Anne Sawyer." He laughed. I wasn't expecting this kind of reaction. Before I knew it, his long arms were wrapped around me in a hug. "I missed ya kid."

"Oh I know." I grinned up at him. Our tender moment was interrupted by a cough.

"Care to help Jared over there get your shit up?" Kennedy pointed over to the poor boy hauling my sports bag on the bus steps. I quickly ran over to him. We dragged the bag up by the strap and pulled it over to the bunks. There were already sticky notes on the curtains on which bunk is whose. We gave the bag on more heave, settling it down by the bunk without a sticky note on it. It was the last lower right bunk beside Kennedy's and below Pat's. There was a pop from the front of the bus. A voice I recognized as John's shouted 'Let's get this party started!"

---

"Are we there yet?"

"Shut up, Pat. We're not even close" Tim snapped. It's been 1 week, 2 days and 2 hours since we left Tempe for the tour. It's been 1 day and 6 hours since The Maine played their show in Salt Lake City. 5 hours and 45 minutes since my last meal. And it's been 3 hours and 20 fucking minutes of 'Are we there yet?'

"Are we-"

"We'll get there when we get there!" I fumed. It's been almost 6 hours since I last ate. A bug could've landed on my arm and I would've given a rant about using proper spray appliance. John suggested we go to the nearest McDonalds before I end up killing one of them.

30 minutes later I was in line, behind Kennedy, bouncing in anticipation for my turn.The Happy Meal theme for this month were DC super heroes. This means… Superman! Pat, who was behind me along with John, started looking at me weird. John just shook his head and whispered something in Pat's ear. Whatever he said must've worked cause Pat look at me a lot less weird. It was finally my turn to order. I almost shrieked in excitement.

"Good afternoon. Welcome to McDonalds. May I take your oder?" The girl said rather bored. But I won't let her rain on my Happy Meal Parade.

"A Chicken McNuggets Happy Meal Please! With the Superman toy!" I ignored the odd look she gave me as she punched in my order.

"You know for an 18 year old, you're not very mature." John teased.

"That's rich, coming from the boy that calls his mom every morning." I smirked. His face had a light pinkish shade to it now. It's kind of sweet really. John wasn't one of those angsty teens who ignored their parents or pretended they didn't care. He loved his mom and dad, and he wasn't afraid to show it. It was one of his redeeming qualities.

"I'm sorry, the guy before you got the last Superman and apple crisps." My face fell. The nerve of the guy. Not only did he rob me off my Superman toy, but also he deprived me of apple crisps. I got a Green Lantern one instead. The girl dropped in an extra pack of fries in the bag to make up for the apple crisps. "Good afternoon! Welcome to McDonalds! What can I do for you boys today?"

I giggled. She sounded a lot perkier and leaned forward on the counter, resting her barely-there-tits on it. I couldn't help but imagine the double meaning of her words. This definitely wasn't the first this has happened. The boys had their fair share of overly assertive waitresses. It didn't bother me so much as it did before. If anything I felt sorry for the poor girls. The bus was relatively empty. Everyone else was in the McDonalds play pen. I watched from the window as John tried to get in through the closed slide, head first.

"John's an idiot." Kennedy chuckled as he took a bite of his apple crisps.

"Joel was right, 'Inside of You' was probably about John not being able to fit in the play area." I smiled as John struggled to get out of the slide. Pat and Garrett were pulling on his legs while Jared and the rest of the crew were just laughing and pointing at them. They somehow managed to slip John's pants off, leaving him in his checkered boxers and kicking harder. Dirk started to take pictures of it, to capture this incident forever then leak it on the internet when the time is right. Kennedy and I were crying of laughter. My stomach was starting to hurt. I clutched it hoping the tension would magically go away. John finally got out and went over and started playfully punching Pat and Garrett. The laughter started died down. Kennedy wiped a tear out of his eye then turned to me.

"Apple crisp?" He offered.

"No thanks." I shook my head without looking at him. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him head back to the sofas. Well it was nice while it lasted. I stared out the window and watched the guys start to clean up.

A small Superman figurine was set down in front of me on the window still. I turned to the owner of the hand. Kennedy had that special smile on. No teeth and with so much emotion in his eyes. The smile was kind, apologetic and a whole other emotion that I couldn't quite point out. I launched myself on him and wrapped my arms around his neck. It was a small gesture sure, but I knew it was his way of saying sorry without all the sappy talk. He buried his face in my neck and hugged me back. I felt his lips curve into a smile against my collar. It felt nice. I had my best friend back.

"Oh get a room!" John called from the steps of the bus.