Feet First

It was the first time in weeks that I woke up with a smile on my face.

I was in awe of how incredibly happy I was.

It was obviously because of her.

I turned over, grabbed my phone, and decided to reply to people on twitter, hoping to make them smile this morning too.

Jack opened my bunk curtain and climbed into bed with me, still drowsy and wearing his glasses. He must have seen me tweeting.

“You know this is why people think you’re my boyfriend.” I laughed.

“I’m pretty sure Vinny spilled tequila on my bed. Smells like ass.” He said.

We both laughed. Although I didn’t doubt Jack’s bed being covered in tequila, this wasn’t a weird occurrence. We often huddled in one bunk together, not to cuddle naked, as many of our fans would believe, but just to talk.

He really is my best friend in the world, and sometimes he and Rian and Zack are all I’ve got.

But not today.

“Someone’s smiling.” He noted.

“It’s a good morning my friend.”

“Why is that?”

“Because I kissed a pretty girl.” I said.

“Does her name rhyme with Bolivia?”

“Indeed.”

“Well shit man. Are you together or did she just give you a handy behind the bus?”

I laughed, but then I thought about it.

We’re we together?

I kissed her, and then she smiled, and left.

We didn’t talk about it.

Shit.

“Well, I don’t know.” I said.

“Well you better figure it out before I get her pregnant.” He said, muffling his face in my pillow.

“Shut up.” I said, pushing him over.

“If I fall out of this bed and break something, you’re going to be in trouble with Matt.”

“We can easily replace you since you suck at guitar.”

“ALEX DON’T BREAK JACK.” We heard Matt yell.

“FLYZIK YOU’RE FIRED AND WE FUCKING HATE YOU.” Jack yelled back.

“Well, then I guess I don’t need to tell you your signing time and set time for today, fucking ass holes.”

“Guys, he’s making that gay pouty face, you hurt his feelings.” Rian laughed.

“I don’t know why I work for you.” Matt said.

We all got up after that, and tried to organize ourselves in an attempt to follow Flyzik’s orders.

After I was ready I sat on the couch, and pulled out my phone.

“Jack, do I tell her we need to talk or is that intimidating?”

“Alex, fuck you, we aren’t women we don’t ask each other this.” He said.

I rolled my eyes at him. “You aren’t funny.”

“How’s my hair?” He asked, completely serious.

“We aren’t women.” I said in a mocking voice. “Go ask Rian you fuck.”

“Rian is balding I can’t ask him.”

“Jack, fuck you and your gay hair. Alex, who are you talking about?” Rian asked.

“I kissed Olivia and we didn’t really talk about it, and now I don’t know how to go about this.”

“Dude, just find her later.” Jack said.

“MATT! MMMAAAATTTTTTT!” I yelled.

“What?”

“What are we doing today?”

“Signing at 3 at the Kia Tent, and then you’re playing at 5. So you have from now till 2:45 to meet
me back here, and then after your set. There’s no time in between.”

“Love you Matty.” I said.

“If you guys are late again, I’m going to kill you guys.” He said, departing the bus.

I checked my phone, it was 11 now, and her set was probably soon.

“Who wants to go watch bands?” I asked.

“Only if we walk around backstage, I’m too tired to have girls scream at me.” Jack said.

It was understandable, even when you walked around alone girls screamed and asked for pictures and autographs, and soon you had a mini crowd around you. But when there were two of you, especially Jack and I because of fucking Jalex or whatever, it was chaos.

Yes, I adored our fans, I loved meeting them, but when you’re just trying to enjoy a set or get some food, it’s very overwhelming.

Since Matt was such an angel, he posted a list of everyone’s set time on our bus window everyday.
I grabbed it, and we left.

“Okay, their set is at 12:30. So we can see whoever until then.”

“Alrighty.” He said, and we walked.

One of the many reasons I loved Warped was that we met so many different people.

There were so many bands here ranging from bands like Olivia’s that are just starting out, then bands like Yellowcard who’ve been together for so long.

And there were so many different genres here as well. Like Tay’s band is kind of pop, and then there’s Vic and the rest of Pierce the Veil who scream and have the best hardcore crowds.

I thought back to the first night of this tour, all the bands sat around a huge fire and just drank and ate together. Barely any of us knew each other, and now we were all great friends.

Something I always loved was the networking.

Not only did we have more friends, but we also met a lot more people that we could potentially tour with. Or when we go to a city, we can go to a show instead of sitting around in a bar. Or we can help a little band out by supporting them, maybe not by touring, but helping them get connections with labels and such.

“Hey, do you think we could give someone at Hopeless Andrew or Liv’s contact?” I asked Jack.

“I mean, wouldn’t it be a little awkward because they’ll think it’s just because it’s your girlfriend’s band?” He asked.

“One, not my girlfriend we’re finding her to figure that shit out. Two, I’ve actually been thinking about it for a while, and yes I do like Liv, but looking at the band disregarding that they are very talented and I think they’d really fit in well at Hopeless. They are going places, and they could be a good asset to the family.”

“Actually, I was wondering if they were signed or not the other day because Matt was asking about what they should do next. And yeah, they have a sound that would fit in well there. I dunno, I mean, you could invite someone out here to hear them and see what they think. That way there’s no disappointment to the band if they don’t like them and the band won’t be nervous.”

“Good ideas, good ideas.” I said.

We walked and talked and talked to people and listened to sets.

I was surprised how many songs I knew from different bands. I’d never really listened to Kellin or Vic’s music before, but I guess I’d watched their set enough to learn songs.

That was a great part of tour too, finding out that you like music you didn’t think you would.

We stopped and ate, and then made our way over to watch Liv.

As we walked behind all the stages, I realized how weird it was walking back here, and being able to watch bands from back stage.

It didn’t seem like that long ago when Jack and I would go to Warped and stand in the same crowd all day sweating out fucking balls off, just to get barricade for Blink, New Found Glory, or Fall Out Boy.

Or the years of Warped where there were only two or three bands we kind of liked, those years, we’d drink all day and go into random pits and mosh. Or we’d go talk to everyone and attempt to get people to listen to our band. Or we’d find girls to hang out with.

Being backstage, and playing main stage on this tour, and having kids wait all day to be front row for our show, was mind blowing.

We got there just in time to watch Liv, Matt, Sam and Andrew climb on stage and start their set.

I couldn’t help but notice how much Olivia had come out of her shell.

The first time I watched her on stage, she only talked to introduce the song title and Sam and Matt did all the talking. And when she sang, she’d pace the same 4 feet on the stage occasionally making eye contact with the crowd, but mostly looking at Andrew, Sam or Matt.

Now, she was yelling, and joking and laughing with the other guys, and talking to the crowd. And she was running around and ruffling Matt’s hair, and leaning on Sam. And she really interacted with the crowd, pointing, lending her mic out for them to sing, and standing so far out on the edge of the stage that I nearly had heart attacks in fear she’d fall off.

She’d really come into her own, and that made me smile.

“How many of you have listened to our EP Just Say Maybe?” She said, and they cheered.

“Well that is fantastic to hear. It’s because of all you wonderful people that we get to be on this stage right now.”

They all cheered again.

“I hope you enjoyed our set, and I hope you come out to see us when we come here again. Thank you all for coming out, we love you. This song is called Your Name.”

I looked into the crowd and saw how happy they made some of these kids. Most of them were singing back to her, and the few that weren’t were still smiling and having a good time.

“She reminds me or Hayley.” Jack said.

“As in Williams?”

“Yeah, don’t you see it?”

“Jack, people say every girl singer is like Hayley.”

“No, the way their voices are nothing alike, but the red hair and the stage presence? How does that not scream Hayley?”

“Ah, okay, I see where you’re coming from.”

After they finished that song, Liv turned to come off stage when she saw me.

Her whole face lit up into this huge smile.

My heart nearly burst with happiness, she was so excited to see me.

“Alex!” She yelled, and gave me a huge hug. “Did you like it? You haven’t seen us play in a while.”

“You guys were awesome. Jack says you remind him of Hayley Williams.” I said.

“Really? That’s a huge compliment. Thank you.” She said, hugging Jack too. “But no offense, doesn’t everyone say every girl singer is like Hayley?”

I laughed. ‘Told you so.” I elbowed Jack in the side.

We talked about the set and Sam and Matt asked how they can be funnier on stage like us, and Andrew asked if they should start doing covers, and Liv just walked beside me quietly.

I could tell she was thinking.

“Wait, would you guys let us cover you?” Andrew asked.

“Yeah that’d be so awesome.” Jack said, I could tell he was really excited about this.

Nobody had ever asked to cover us before, so this was for us big.

“We could do Six Feet!” Sam exclaimed. “That’s where we got the idea for our band name.”

“Wait no way, you never told us that.” Jack said.

“Yep, Five Feet Under, came from Six Feet Under the Stars.” Matt explained.

“That’d be cool to cover, Rian’s drums are so sick in that.” Andrew chimed in.

“Wait, this means Liv would be Alex.” Jack laughed.

She looked up at me and smiled. “Sorry if I sing your own sing better than you.” She joked.

It was then that she slipped her hand into mine, and the two of us walked in our own little world as the rest of the discussed possible covers.

When we returned to our bus, everyone climbed on, and I held Olivia back, asking her if we could talk alone.

We sat on the ground beside the bus, leaning our backs up against it.

We sat in silence as my brain raced to try to figure out how I should phrase what I wanted to ask
her.

“So, I was wondering if you’d like to go out sometime?” I asked.

“Are you asking me on a date?” She smiled.

I laughed, “Yes, I am.”

“A real date?”

“No, a fake date.”

“I mean like a real like going out just you and me with the intention of it being a date as opposed to sitting in your bunk.” She laughed.

“Yes a real going out somewhere that is not our gross bus date.”

“Well, I would simply love to.”

“Great. Our set is at five tonight so we’ll be done early. I’ll come get you at seven.”

“Do I have to look nice?” She asked.

“Uh, yeah! It’s a real date god damnit!”

She gave me a little pout.

“You always loo nice, so it’s not that much effort.”

“This is getting more cheesy seventh grade date by the second.” She teased.

“Whatever, I’ll come pick you up at seven.”

“Deal.” She smiled, and turned and walked away.

I walked onto the bus where my band and Matt, Sam and Andrew were all sitting around, still discussing covers.

When they saw me the conversations stopped.

“And?” Jack asked.

“And what?”

“Did you two talk?” Andrew asked.

“Yes.” I said, trying to retreat to my bunk, not wanting to talk about it with all of them there.

“And?” Jack said again.

“We’re hanging out tonight.”

“Are you hanging out or is it like a date?” Sam asked.

“Jesus Christ, I hate you people.”

“It’s a date. Everyone pay up.” Jack said, everyone handed Jack a five. “Andrew I believe half of this is yours.”

“You bet on me asking her out?”

“Yep.” Jack said.

“I fucking hate all of you.” I said, throwing my pillow at him and laughing.

I laid down and stretched out on the bed, yes it was funny, yes it was annoying, whatever it was I didn’t care.

I had a date tonight.