Something to Remember

SARAH:

I couldn’t stop moving the entire plane ride. I was bouncing my legs, chewing my nails, crossing my ankles and then re-crossing them, drumming on my thighs, scratching nonexistent itches, and literally anything that was possible to do while sitting in a chair on an airplane. All the guys in my band and our manager, Nick, were alternating giving me dirty looks. I couldn’t have cared less.

“Sarah, what the hell? You’ve been acting seriously weird since our practice yesterday. What’s going on?” Kyle leaned across the aisle and looked at me. I had seen him and Ryan whispering about me earlier so I had a feeling this was coming.

“Nothing, really. I’m just tired and too excited to fall asleep.” I looked him in the eyes and could tell he wasn’t buying a word I said. How was it that he already knew me so well?

“Bullshit. We’re your family now; you are ethically required to be honest with us. And if you aren’t we’ll undoubtedly find out soon enough anyway, one way or another, so you might as well tell us. It will be easier for everyone.” Kyle gave me smile and I couldn’t help but give him one in return. It was so hard to be upset around him.

I looked over his shoulder at Ryan and could tell that he was doing his best to discreetly eavesdrop. He wasn’t very good at it.

“I can’t get into it here, but I will tell you as soon as we get to the hotel. You too, Ryan,” I said. Ryan turned to give me a sheepish grin, which made me laugh.

“I will explain it to everyone, but I really don’t feel like repeating myself so I’d rather just wait until I can tell you all at once,” I finished, returning my attention to Kyle, who nodded.

“Fair enough, but I’m gonna hold you to that.” He shot me a warning look and I put up my hands innocently. I was grudging telling them, but I knew that it was inevitable. They could probably figure it out themselves the moment John and I came into contact anyway. I’d rather them hear it from me first.

When we arrived at the airport in Arizona, I was blown away. People, mostly teenagers, were just standing around, waiting for us to arrive. Jeremy had released the news of our tour to the media yesterday after he hung up with Tyler and, apparently, word got around fast.

As we came out of the gates, they all rushed towards us, screaming our names. They had posters and shirts and I don’t even know what.

“Holy fuck.” Jack had been walking right behind me and when I stopped dead in my tracks, he did too.

“Right? I didn’t know this many people even knew our band existed,” Tyler said while looking over at us with wide eyes.

I shook my head in amazement. Just over a month ago, I was waiting tables. Now there were at least fifty people I had never laid eyes on before in my life screaming my name.

“You guys need to buck up and get those terrified expressions off your faces. They are already taking pictures,” Nick said to us.

I took a moment to gather myself before pulling in a deep breath and smiling. I started marching straight towards the huge mob and the guys followed right beside me.

I noticed that Security was closing in around us, mostly focusing on myself, but my band was one step ahead of them. They had already started to form a protective wall around me and it made me smile. I loved them so much.

As we approached the fans, their screams got louder.

“Sarah!”

“I love you!”

I made eye contact with some of them and waved. Most waved back to me, but others just stood there, looking awed. Jack laughed.

“Why do they look so amazed to see us?”

“I have no idea. Just be nice,” I said.

As we began to make our way through them, I felt myself having to fake a smile less and less. They were all so awesome and so enthusiastic to meet us.

“Hey can I get a picture?” A girl who looked about sixteen asked us. She was wearing a black t-shirt with our EP cover on it and I looked at the guys before smiling at her.

“Of course.”

We all posed. The girl and I were in the middle with Ryan kissing her cheek and Kyle kissing mine, while Tyler and Jack struck hilariously seductive poses in front of us on the floor. Everyone around us fell into stitches when Kyle licked my face just as the picture was being taken.

I didn’t even want to see the result on camera, I’m pretty sure the expression I made was going to embarrass the hell out of me.

I glared at him while wiping my cheek but he just laughed.

“You are disgusting.”

Kyle winked and blew me a kiss, which caused me to laugh against my will. He grinned, knowing he wasn’t in trouble, and returned to the fans.

I was not going to let him completely off the hook though, so I jumped on his back as he walked away. Kyle grunted but caught my legs and I hooked my arms around his neck. After that, the rest of the visit with our fans consisted of me being carried around by my band mates. As it turned it out, it made it easier for me to see everyone from their backs since I was so short.

Lastly, when it was Jack’s turn to carry me, he made me sit on his shoulders instead of giving me a piggy back ride. As I settled down on top of him, he looked up at me suggestively and grabbed ahold of my legs. Because of that, I “accidently” smacked him in the head with a shoe that a fan handed me to sign, causing him to give me a pouty look.

In all, we spent over an hour talking with all the people and signing things, but we finally got to everyone and grabbed our luggage so we could leave. For some reason, Tyler challenged us all to a race to the car and we agreed, despite the fact that we were all in our early twenties and not our early teens.

We decided to use a potted plant as a starting point and Nick counted down to go for us.

As we sprinted through the airport, our bags trailed along behind us. Surprisingly, mostly all of our fans ran along too, laughing at our craziness. I was still on Jack’s shoulders so I could turn around to see them.

As Jack labored to pull ahead, I screamed at him to run faster. My hands were tangled in his hair and I pulled at it to steer him around obstacles, like all the people who were glaring at us.

“Shit, Sarah! Stop it, I have eyes!” He kept shouting at me that I was hurting him, but I just ignored it.

Every time we rounded a corner I was nearly thrown off him and I couldn’t help but shriek, which made all of them laugh. At one point Ryan tripped and wiped out, but no one slowed down.

“You guys suck!” I heard him yell.

I was laughing so hard there were tears coming out of my eyes.

Somehow at one point, Jack managed to break away from everyone, despite having me on his shoulders, and we made it to the car first. We both did a victory dance, which consisted of some sarcastically crude motions, then rubbed Ryan, Tyler, and Kyle’s losses into their faces some more.

Once Jack and I had our fun, we loaded up the car and headed to the hotel.

Our fans all stood and waved goodbye to us as we pulled out, and we called out of our windows to them. During the ride, all of us chatted about how amazing all the people we had met were. It wasn’t until we got to the hotel that I was reminded of the terrifying reason why we were in Arizona to begin with.

After we checked in and found our rooms, everyone gathered in my room. All four of the guys sat down on the bed in my suite when Nick took a phone call outside and stared me expectantly. When I raised an eyebrow at them, Ryan shook his head at me.

“No more avoiding it, tell us what’s wrong,” he said. I sighed. It was time to tell them about John and me.

“Alright, but you have to promise not to tell anyone else unless I say you can, ok?”

They all nodded, oddly serious for once, and I opened a bottle from the mini bar. Alcohol was definitely going to be my best friend during the next conversation.