Spinning.

I woke up the next morning to the most perfect pair of olive eyes studying me, a hint of a smile on John's face as he watched me.

“Why are you up so early?” I mumbled, cuddling closer to him.

“You were sleep talking.” He smirked, kissing my forehead.

“Oh god,” I blushed, burying my face under the blankets.

“Now stop that, I want to see you, you know.” John chuckled, pulling the blankets away.

“Mm, what time is it?”

“It's about six.” I groaned at the answer. We'd have to get up soon for the morning show.

“Sleepy?”

“Yes.” He tilted his head, pressing a kiss to my lips. I kissed back, my lips molding perfectly to fit with his, even so early in the morning.

“Waking up now?” He chuckled, pulling away.

“Only if you keep doing that.” I smirked, kissing him again. He complied, his hands reaching over to pull me on top of him. He traced the edges of my lips with his tongue, requesting entrance, letting my mouth open just enough so his tongue could slip in. His fingers grazed the edges of my hips, tracing the skin where my tank top had slid up during the night, sending a chill up my spine as our lips continued to collide. I reached up, tangling my fingers through his hair again before moving my lips down his jawline, onto his neck.

Before I could get too far down, he flipped us over, hovering on top of me for a moment before crashing his lips against mine. My fingers fumbled for the hem of his shirt, grabbing on before tugging it up.

“Someone's awake now,” John gave me a devilish grin, sitting up so I could pull his shirt off of him.

“I might have had a little help,” I teased, tracing one finger down the center of his now bare chest. He shuddered, leaning down and letting his lips gently graze against my ear as he exhaled.

“I could help you with some other things, you know.”

The breath caught in my throat as he traced his tongue down my neck, stopping just above my collarbone. I gasped as he bit down, his teeth grazing over the bone and sending my mind into a frenzy. I pulled him back up and pressing our lips together again, rolling over so I was on top.

“Nice bedhead,” He smirked, ruffling my hair. I pulled the hairband off the end, shaking out the remnants of my braid from the night before and letting it fall down.

“Yours isn't too shabby either.” I laughed, bending down and kissing him again. I dragged a finger up his abs, taking my sweet time to reach his chest, swirling it around his nipple before gently twisting it between my fingers, causing him to gasp.

“Shirt. Off. Now.” He commanded, reaching his arms up to try and grab for the hem. I grabbed his arms, stopping him and pinning him down.

“Ah, ah, ah, who said you could do that?” It was my turn to devilishly grin at him, staying there for a moment while he licked his lips hungrily.

“God, you're such a fucking tease.” He couldn't take his eyes off of me, the lust clouding in them the longer he studied my figure.

I smirked, barely brushing my lips against his before letting his hands go. He wasted no time pulling the tank top off, leaving both of us topless. His hand reached up, gently cusping my breast before taking my nipple and rubbing it between his thumbs, causing a soft moan to escape my lips. We rolled so I was underneath again, John's hands trailing along my chest as he kissed down, pausing at the hickey from the night before and grinning.

“You seem to have a little bruise there,” he pressed his lips to the darkened skin, grazing his teeth gently along the mark before continuing lower. I gently arched my back, pushing my skin closer to him as he continued to kiss and suck his way down my stomach, stopping just above the band of my pants.

“I'd love to keep going,” He looked up at me, watching my facial expression, “but I believe your alarm is about to go off and that means we have to get up.”

And as if on cue, my alarm started beeping. I slammed the off button, groaning.

“God damnit, you're such a fucking tease.” I dramatically threw my head back, making John laugh.

“Speak for yourself, I need a cold shower.” He climbed off of me, kissing me innocently before strolling into the bathroom. I pulled the blankets up on me, not wanting to leave the comfort of the plush blankets quite yet, snuggling in and closing my eyes for a minute.

I must have fallen asleep again, because John shook his wet hair out on me to wake me up.

“What are you doing?” I groaned, the cold water droplets hitting me and snapping me awake.

“You fell asleep again. That wasn't fair.” He grinned, sitting on the edge of the bed. “Even if you're cute when you're asleep.”

I sat up, rubbing my face before slipping on my glasses. “I suppose I have to get ready now, huh?”

“Yeah, you can go do your girly stuff that you do to get ready. As for me, I need to get dressed, but my clothes are still in my room.”

“You better hope that Jared and Tessa aren't enjoying a morning like we just had.” I smirked, climbing out of bed to grab clean clothes.

“I'd hope they were done by now if that was the case.” John made a face, grabbing his shirt and slipping it back on before walking to the door. “Do I get a goodbye kiss?”

I walked over to him, reaching up and pressing my lips to his. “You'll see me in not even an hour, you know.”

“Yeah, but I'll still miss you when you're gone. I'll also miss seeing you without your shirt on.”

“Perv.” I laughed, hitting him. “I'm going to go get ready now.”

“Catch you later!” John grinned, sliding out the door so I could get ready in peace.

I took longer than usual to get ready, partly because the whopping three and a half hours of sleep I had gotten left me pretty much incapable of a solid train of thought, but also because I was too busy daydreaming about John to really pay attention to what I was doing. By the time I finally made it down to the lobby, everyone else was sitting downstairs ready to go.

“Took you long enough,” Pat laughed as I finally approached the group.

“Shut up, I didn't get much sleep.” I rolled my eyes at him, heading straight for the coffee.

“And I bet we all know why.” Garrett smirked, causing John to hit him in the back of the head. “Ow!”

“Get your mind out of the gutter,” John scolded, not wanting to give away our morning activities.

“You two are finally dating, right?” Jared cut in, asking the question that everyone was wondering, all eyes on both of us as I sat down next to him.

“Yeah, you're currently looking at the future Mrs. John Cornelius O'Callaghan the fifth.” John smirked, making eye contact with me.

“Baby steps, buddy.” I teased, causing the others to laugh. “Start with dating. No shotgun weddings here.”

“She already knows how to put you in your place. I like her,” Tessa chuckled from her perch on Jared's lap.

“Since when have I had to be put in my place?” John pouted, pulling my chair closer to his.

“Since always.” Kennedy laughed.

“Are we ready to go?” Tim and Carolyn came down, looking around to make sure we were all accounted for. “You all have that interview to do, you know.”

Everyone began to stand up, collecting their bags so we could head out to the buses. John took my bag and slung it over his shoulder, insisting that he wouldn't be a gentleman if he didn't take his girlfriend's bag.

I couldn't help but smile when he called me his girlfriend. Even if it had just happened the night before, the sound of it just felt so right, like I was always meant to be his. And as we linked hands, strolling out to the buses, everything in the world felt just right. Even if I was still sleep deprived.



“Jared, quit hogging the only other pair of ovaries on this bus.”

Tessa started laughing as I climbed on board after lunch, John trailing closely behind me and scooping up Chewie. After our morning show interview we boarded the buses and made our way up to Duluth, John and I napping on the couch of my bus while the others either read, napped, or in the case of Carolyn and Alice, worked.

“But I only get to see her for so long.” Jared whined, pulling her closer to him. She turned, kissing his cheek, and grinned.

“I feel so special, being fought over!”

“Man, I finally get a girlfriend and she only wants to hang out with Tessa. Just my luck.” John mockingly complained, flopping down on the couch.

“You two have practically been dating for pretty much the last month. I don't think you can really say that you 'just' got her,” Kennedy pointed out, not looking away from the screen as he and Garrett raced each other on Mario Kart. “You 'just' got the label.”

“Yeah, besides how many girls do I get to hang out with? That's right, pretty much none.”

“You have Carolyn and Alice!”

“They're my handlers! They're nice and all, but they're both a decade and a half older than I am and I am their job. It's not like you guys, where your manager is Pat's brother.” I argued.

“Fine, I guess I can share her.” Jared drew out the 'fine,' unwrapping his arms around Tessa so she could stand up.

“Alright, what are we doing?” She asked.

“I don't care, as long as it's girl time.” I laughed.

She grabbed her jacket as we made our way off the bus, deciding we'd take Chewie for a walk since he was bouncing everywhere on the bus.

“Jared talks about you a lot, you know. It's cool that I finally get to meet you!”

“Aw, really?” Tessa blushed. “I hope he didn't say anything embarrassing!”

“No, of course not! He always tells me about what you're up to and then he always goes into how much he misses you. It's really cute.” I assured her. “He's crazy about you.”

Tessa had the biggest grin on her face. “He always makes me feel like the luckiest girl in the world. He just gets me, you know? It's so nice to be able to just have someone like that, even if he's gone so much.”

“Yeah, I think I'm about to get a crash course in this whole distance thing. Until now, I haven't dated since undergrad, so I haven't really had anyone to miss or go home to.”

“It's rough at first, but it gets better. You find ways to make it work, skyping and phone calls and text messages and taking days off to see each other. A lot of my friends say we put a lot of work into making it work, but it's worth it for us.”

“I imagine once you get into the habit, it becomes a lot easier.”

“It does,” she nodded. “I haven't seen John so happy in so long.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, it's really nice to see. I was starting to wonder if he was ever going to get back to himself.”

“Wait, what do you mean by that?” I looked at her, confused.

“Well...” she started, searching for the best way to explain it, “A couple years back John was crazy in love with this girl. Like, he was going to ask her to marry him kind of in love. She seemed nice enough, I mean none of us really disliked her, but we didn't think she was the one for him either. But, when they were on the road, he went to go visit her at her parents' house and found out she was engaged to another guy.”

“Oh shit.”

“Oh shit was right. He was a wreck. And apparently something happened on tour after that, because when he came back it was like he was a ghost of himself. He hardly said anything, he wouldn't really eat-- it was like he was dead inside. He ended up staying with his family for the two months they were home because the rest of the band didn't trust him alone in his apartment, and when he wasn't with his parents he stayed with Jared and I. It was the weirdest thing.” Tessa shook her head, thinking back. “I asked Jared what happened, but he wouldn't really tell me-- just that John got involved with the wrong stuff and that he needed support more than ever. Eventually he started getting back to himself, but it wasn't ever the same. He didn't have the light that old John had, like he was so skeptical of everything and he would avoid feeling anything.”

“Well that might explain why when I first met him, he told me love was for the birds.”

“Oh god,” she scoffed, rolling her eyes. “He would. I'm just glad that he's back to, you know, himself. I think Jared really missed his best friend. I think we all did.”

“That would also explain why Jared was so adamantly playing matchmaker.”

“Jared knows John like the back of his hand. And really, John's a big ol' romantic. He's such a believer in love. We knew he wouldn't really be back to himself until he accepted it and moved on.”

“Was he not over this girl until now?”

“No, he was over her. He was just too scared to try again, I think. He realized that if you weren't careful, a lot of things can go on while you're gone. “ She shrugged, before her eyes suddenly widened. “I'm not throwing this out there to scare you or anything.” She momentarily panicked. “Oh shit I hope I didn't just fuck that up for him, damn I need to shut my mou--”

“Tessa, you didn't mess anything up.” I chuckled. “Don't worry. I'm actually glad you told me that. It explains a lot.”

“Oh?” She looked at me, confused by what I said.

“I mean, it just explains some of the things he's said and done. I'm not like, going to grill him about it.” I shrugged. “I mean, if he wants to ever talk about it I'll listen, but it's up to him. He lets me come to him when I'm ready, I'll let him come to me when he's ready.”

“Oh thank god,” she breathed a sigh of relief. “Sometimes I just get talking and then I say things I shouldn't and I would have felt terrible if I fucked it up for him.”

“Yeah, don't worry. You didn't do that.” I smiled at her, stopping to let Chewie mark his territory.

Across the street, a male figure was watching us. Tessa looked from me to him, and then back at me, trying to figure out if we knew each other.

“Do you know that guy who's watching us?”

I squinted at him, trying to tell. He began to cross the street, coming close enough for me to recognize him. He had definitely changed since the last time I had seen him, all the way back at high school graduation. He now had a beer belly, his tan skin looking almost leathery as it stretched across his form. He was still in his old Carhartt, which looked almost threadbare at this point, and he looked like he needed a shower.

“Holy shit,” I muttered under my breath.

“Beret!” Brady Johnson finally made it over to us, grinning from ear to ear. “I thought that was you!”

“Hi, Brady! Um, what are you doing here?” I tried to force some enthusiasm into what I was saying, partially confused as to what he was doing in Duluth.

“I live up here now! I've been working out at my Uncle's farm,” he checked out both Tessa and I before looking down at Chewie, who was sniffing his mud stained jeans and work boots. “What are you doing in Duluth? Aren't you super famous now?”

“I, uh, I'm on tour. We're playing a show here tonight.” I looked at Tessa, hoping she'd have a way to get us out of this conversation, who returned a confused look at me.

“Oh! Well, any chance you're free to catch up for dinner beforehand?” He asked, winking at me.

“Unfortunately I'm pretty busy, touring kind of packs my schedule up.” I made an excuse, knowing that I would rather jump in Lake Superior at that moment (and guaranteed get hypothermia) than go out to dinner with him.

“Speaking of, we've gotta get going back to the bus. You've got soundcheck soon” Tessa cut in with an excuse, watching me.

“Yeah, we should. Um, nice to run into you!” I half waved at him, unsure of really what to say. He waved, turning to leave before shouting a “call me sometime!” over his shoulder. I shuddered, making a disgusted face and causing Tessa to laugh.

“So who was that?”

“His name is Brady Johnson. We went to prom together my senior year. He was the guy everyone wanted to go with, since he was quarterback of the football team and was like, every girl's dream hick-- back then he was tan, blond, and ripped. Except he's dumber than a box of rocks and we didn't have anything in common. I don't even know why he asked me to go with him.” I rolled my eyes. “My best friend talked me into agreeing to go as his date, partly because she had a vendetta against his ex and she knew it would piss her off, also partly because she didn't want me to get asked by any creeps.”

“Is that the girl with you yesterday?”

“Yeah, Ava. She's a nut sometimes.” I laughed. “God, we were just talking about him yesterday!”

“Why?” Tessa looked at me like I was crazy.

“I made some comment about how getting ready for yesterday was like getting ready for prom, new dress and getting all done up with Ava, and she made some comment about how I was so nervous for prom and I was so nervous for last night, then she mentioned that Brady would have probably been all over me if he could see me now.”

“Well judging by how he checked us out, I would say she was right.” Tessa chuckled.

“What a hornball. God he isn't even very cute anymore. Kid needs to lay off the beer, he's getting a belly there.” I snorted. “Thank god that conversation didn't last very long. I should probably tell Ava about that run in, I'm sure she'll get a laugh.”

We made our way back to the bus, comparing high school memories and laughing at our unfortunate high school selves, both of us having more than enough embarrassing moments to share. When we made it back, I had hardly unhooked Chewie from his leash before John already had his arms wrapped around me, pulling me onto the couch with him.

“How was the walk?” He asked, kissing my temple.

“We ran into Beret's senior prom date!” Tessa exclaimed, laughing.

John's eyes grew wide, watching me.

“Oh god, it was so awkward!” I groaned, a chuckle escaping my lips

“Well what happened?” Jared asked, pulling Tessa onto his lap again.

“We were walking Chewie, and we stopped because he wanted to pee on something when Tessa noticed that someone was staring at us from across the street. She asked me if I knew who it was, so I looked up, and he started walking over to us, and lo and behold it was Brady Johnson.”

“And then he totally checked both of us out and tried to ask Beret out to dinner!” Hearing this, John's arms tightened around me, causing a grin to pop up on my face. He was jealous.

“God he's such a skeeze,” I laughed. “We got out of there as fast as we possibly could!”

“Was he cute?” John asked, not sounding enthused at all.

“Nah, he looked like a total farm boy.” I shrugged.

“So he must have had a lot of muscle then? And was tan?”

“I mean, yeah, but he was too muscley and he looked like a leather bag. Not my thing.”

“Did he--”

I cut him off, kissing his lips. “You're jealous, aren't you?” I laughed.

“No, no I'm not.” He muttered, blushing.

“If it makes you feel better, my senior prom wasn't very good. We ditched each other half way through the night. Also, now he has a beer belly and is in desperate need of a shower.” I couldn't help but grin at him. He was cute when he was jealous.

“He didn't give you a good senior prom? How rude.” Jared laughed.

“We didn't have anything in common. Ava talked me into going with him because she wanted to piss off his ex girlfriend.” I laughed, thinking back. “He was such an idiot, we couldn't even hold a decent conversation. Still is.”

John's arms loosened around me again, realizing that there was no way I was about to go running off to Brady. He nuzzled his nose into the side of my neck, tickling me.

“Good. I finally got you, I'm not letting some farm boy steal you away.”

“Trust me, I'd take you over Brady Johnson any day.”