Warped Tour Romantics

I'd just gotten back to the bus from an interview and I instantly knew something was going on when all four of my band mates grinned widely as soon as I stepped into the lounge.
"What?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at them suspiciously and Justin giggled like a child before handing me my phone. I quickly snatched it out of his hand, still suspicious.
"What did you do to it?" I asked when nothing seemed to have changed.
"Look at your texts." Jesse said, wiggling his eyebrows.
"Why were you reading my texts?" I asked, quickly going to my texts and seeing a text from John. I opened the text up and my heart was suddenly beating way too fast when I read it. My eyes flashed up at my band mates for a moment before I read the text over again, just to make sure I hadn't misread it. Holy shit. Suddenly my annoyance with them was completely forgotten and all I could do was stare at it, my mouth falling open a little.
"W–what?"
"You better reply, otherwise he'll think you're rejecting him." I didn't say anything more to my bandmates, walking back into the bunks still staring at my phone. John O'Callaghan asked me on a date. Holy shit.

I rang his number, biting down hard on my lip as it rang.
"Hello?" He asked and I could tell he hadn't check the caller ID when he picked up.
"H–hi." I stuttered out, just above a whisper, my nerves getting the better of me.
"Kellin!" He said, recognition evident in his voice.
"Hi." I said again, trying to decide how to word what I wanted to say, other than the obvious 'yes'. "I wanted to call–"
"Wait a sec' Kel, the reception is messed here, I can't hear you." John said and I could hear him on the other end moving around as I died from the nickname he'd given me. If anyone else had called me Kel I would have told them off but somehow I liked it when John called me that.
"Is that Kellin on the phone?" I heard Garrett in the background before John told him to shut up, making me giggle softly.
"Hi." He said again after obviously having moved into the lounge because I could still hear the chatter of the rest of the Maine in the background.
"Hi." I said again, my nerves having gone down a little. "I– um– I got your text." So much for my nerves going down, I was a stuttering mess again. I'd never been like this with anyone before. "I–I was wondering what the plans for tonight were?"
"Does that mean you're saying yes?"
"Yes, i'm saying yes." I said, smiling to myself. It was official, John and I were going on a date. I wanted to dance around in joy.
"Well," He started and I heard the rest of the Maine cheer as they realised I had said yes. As if I would have ever said no. "I was thinking, since we aren't on the road until tomorrow, we could go and do something in the city."
"T–that sounds wonderful."
"I'll come get you at seven. I mean, if that's ok?"
"Seven it is." He started to say his goodbye but I cut him off. "Are you still coming to our set in a bit?"
"Of course, I wouldn't miss it."
"Ok."
"I'll see you in a bit then, bye Kellin."
"Bye, John." I said, hanging up with a wide smile.

I don't think i'd felt this nervous about anything in a long time, certainly not a date. My palms were sweaty just thinking about it. John was going to come around to the bus any minute now and I felt like I could puke from both excitement and the nerves. It was bad enough when he'd come to our set, all I could do was blush a whole load and be a general embarrassment to myself.
"You're such a loser." Justin informed me from the couch as he watched me pace around in the small lounge of the bus, pulling at my tie nervously. I'd put on a simple white shirt and black tie and some jeans, which of course Justin thought was hilarious. A knock came on the door and my eyes went wide, staring at Justin. He laughed, standing up and putting his hands on my shoulders.
"Kellin." He said slowly. "John is here to take you on a date."
"You're making me even more nervous." I said, before shaking his hands off when a knock came at the door again. I quickly grabbed my phone, keys and wallet off the couch and gave Justin one last nervous glance before rushing out, almost knocking into John in the process.
"Someone's eager." He laughed, catching me by the shoulder as I tripped out of the bus. I looked up at him, a blush covering my cheeks.
"Hi." I said quietly, making him grin.
"Hey. Aren't you looking flashy tonight." He said, only making my blush worsen.
"Is it too much?"
"No, no, it's perfect. You look wonderful." He said, tugging at my tie for just a moment before dropping it and starting off in the direction of the gates before I could even react to his words.
"So," He said, turning to look at me as I caught up to him. "I made reservations at a restaurant that's within walking distance, and then I thought we could catch a cab into the city and go for a wander around. How does that sound?"
"That sounds perfect." I admitted, still not quite sure how I was on a date with John O'Callaghan.
"Have you spent much time in Chicago before?" He questioned as we walked side by side out of the parking lot full of buses, the sun only just beginning it's descent as we walked, making the sky an amazing orangey pink.
"I've been a few times but only really when we've toured."
"It's one of my favourite cities, we're going to have to come back one day so I can show you all of my favourite places." I loved how he said it, like he didn't have a doubt in his mind that we would be together, like it was the simplest thing in the world.

We'd only been walking for a few minutes down a fairly empty strip of road, with a gas station, McDonald's and iHop when John came to an abrupt stop outside iHop. I looked over at him to see if he was serious and I could see him biting down on his lip to try and stop the cheeky grin from appearing on his face.
"Dinner reservations at iHop?" I questioned.
"Ok, so I might've lied about the reservations part."
"And the restaurant part." I joked, rolling my eyes and he laughed, shaking his head.
"I'm only joking, Kel." I smiled softly at the nickname, loving it more every time he used it. "No, I told the cab to pick us up here, I just wanted to see your face, which was priceless by the way." I smacked him jokingly right as a cab pulled up on the side of the road.
"The best bit is you would've just gone along with it." He said as he opened the back door for me, letting me in first and then handing the cabby a piece of paper, I guess he didn't want me to know where we were actually going, not that it would have meant anything to me anyway.
"You know I wouldn't have minded, as long as it was with you." I told him, smiling softly over at him and he grabbed my hand, linking our fingers.
"You're a sweetheart." He told me, that signature sideways grin that made everyone fall so hard for him, myself included.

The restaurant he'd actually made reservations at was a quaint place hidden down a side street, fairy lights hanging in the trees to light the way. It was a French place with a name I couldn't pronounce and I knew it was the kind of place that John would've had to pull some strings to get a reservation at. The waiter escorted us to our seats outside in a small patio, lit candles on the tables and more fairy lights in the trees.
"This is beautiful." I told John after the waiter had left to get our drinks. I was glad i'd worn the shirt and tie now though, even if John was just in a plain t-shirt and denim jacket. Of course, he could get away with wearing just about anything.
"I thought you'd like it. I found it once when we had a show near here and I forced the others to come have dinner with me so I could see what it was like."
"Everything you do is just…" I trailed off, not really sure how to word it without sounding like a loved up school girl. How was it possible to fall so fast and so hard for someone you barely knew? "I don't know, it's just so you. You aren't apologetic for being you. Your ever so charming self." He poked his tongue out at me across the table, hiding behind his menu and I could've sworn I saw a blush tint his cheeks before he did so.
"Are you blushing, Mr. O'Callaghan?" I questioned and he simply closed the menu on his face, groaning into it, which made me laugh. The waiter came as John still had his face buried in the menu, smirking slightly at the scene. He put our glasses of wine on the table before asking us what we'd like. John finally gave the waiter back the menu, his cheeks still pink as he did so. I loved that he could go from a confident, relaxed demeanour to a blushing, embarrassed mess, which was exactly how I seemed to act almost all of the time I was around him.

After dinner, which John of course would not let me contribute even a little towards, we walked down the quiet streets of Chicago, with no particular destination, just enjoying the city and each others company. It was late on Sunday night so of course there wasn't much at all happening but it almost made it nicer that we could enjoy it together like this. John had linked our fingers together as we left the restaurant again, like he had in the cab and it had me smiling internally for the rest of the night. I saw a gelato store on the corner of the street, empty besides the teen behind the counter and tugged on John's hand, practically dragging him towards it.
"I'm buying us gelato." I informed as we went inside, the bell jingling loudly as we walked in. We both stared down at the different flavours, practically drooling at the sight.
"Hey guys, what can I get for you?" The guy behind the counter asked and I simply hummed, still trying to make a decision. John ordered his and eventually I picked a pistachio gelato, though I was totally planning on stealing a lick of John's brownie gelato.
"You guys on a date?" He asked us as I paid for the gelato and I blushed, nodding.
"That's sweet. I hope you have a nice night."
"Thanks." I said as we left.
We spent the rest of the night walking around and chatting until we finally, rather begrudgingly, caught a cab back to the buses.

"John…" I muttered as we stood outside my bus and I didn't dare look up into those eyes otherwise I could never bring myself to say what I needed to say.
"What's wrong?"
"Do you really want to do this? I know that it's going to be hard with the baby coming. I just want to give you the option now to get out of this and not feel at all guilty." John said nothing at first and it sent my nerves haywire but soon I felt his fingers grazing my jaw and his finger lifted my chin up so I was forced to look at him. When our eyes met he smiled softly at me, making me bite on my lip.
"I like you, Kellin. That's all that matters and we'll just let it play out however it does, ok?" I smiled hard at this, my cheeks flushing a little because after all, this beautiful man in front of me was telling me he liked me and what else was I supposed to do?
"I like you too, John." I said, my smile not faltering. "Thank you for tonight."
"It was my pleasure, beautiful. Goodnight." He said, leaning forward, making my heart pound loudly in my ears and he kissed the edge of my lips. My insides and entire body turned into a mess of butterflies at the simple gesture as he pulled away, his hand still on my jaw.
"N–night." I managed to get out with a stutter.
"Sweet dreams." He said before his hand fell down to his side and he walked off into the dark of the surrounding buses. All I could do was stand there in awe at this boy who I actually really liked, and who seemed to somehow like me back.