This Could Be All I've Waited For

I stepped off the bus and immediately wanted to get back on. The heat was intense, and I considered myself lucky that I wasn’t in the Georgia humidity. The guys let out grunts of disapproval as they got off the bus behind me.

“Where are we?” I whined yanking the tee shirt I had planned to wear over my head leaving me in only my tank top. I opened the bus door and threw my shirt inside before turning to Jack expecting an answer.

Instead, when I turned around I found Jack was staring at my tank top with pursed lips.

“I’ll take that as you don’t know where we are,” I said raising an eyebrow at him.

Alex cleared his throat getting Jack’s attention, “Texas,” Alex said, “San Antonio, I think,” he added before smacking Jack on the arm and heading in the direction of the stage.

“Let’s get moving!” I said pushing Jack trying to make sure we didn’t get too far behind everyone else. Jack moved slowly glancing towards me every now and then until I got fed up with it.
“What is your deal, Jack,” I asked as he looked over at me again, “Is there a stain on my shirt?” I asked looking down at my clothes.

“You aren’t wearing a shirt,” Jack grumbled pulling on the hem of my tank top.

I rolled my eyes at him and chose to ignore his comment, especially considering Marie was running towards us waving like an idiot. A frown made its way onto my lips as Jack waved back.

“You never texted me back,” Marie playfully pouted as we got closer together.

I rolled my eyes. You’d think that if a guy doesn’t text back answering what time he’d be playing that you wouldn’t bother showing up. I guess some girls just don’t know when to quit. I walked past her to the stage to see if there was anything that I could help set up, because being there with Jack and Marie was the last thing I wanted to do.

Finding that the stage set up was pretty much under control without my help I stomped off the stage contemplating missing today’s show just so I didn’t have to talk to Marie or share space with her… or Jack. Alex and Rian were giving me their all-knowing looks again as I hoisted myself up onto an unused amp folding my arms over my chest.

“What are you two looking at?” I grumbled glaring at them.

“A very jealous little lady,” Rian suggested looking over to Alex, “Wouldn’t you say?”

Alex nodded, “Very jealous indeed,” he said agreeing with Rian.
I sighed looking away from them knowing that arguing with them was futile given that I was definitely jealous, and on the verge of hating someone I didn’t even know anything about.

“So are you ready to admit it?” Alex asked easily sitting himself next to me on the amp without all the work that I had to put in to get up here.

“Admit what?” I asked him noticing that Rian had run off with Zack.

“That you, my dear, have feelings for our thoroughly loved Jack,” Alex said bumping his elbow into mine obviously trying to get it out of me while attempting to lift my mood.

I shrugged, “I don’t know,” I sighed out, honestly unsure of how I felt about Jack at this point.

“Don’t give me that bullshit, Cadence!” Alex said a tad too loud for my liking.

Jack’s head shot up from his conversation with Marie and looked over at Alex and me, his eyebrows pulling together in an almost concerned way.

“You’ve gained the attention of the beast,” I congratulated Alex sarcastically nodding in Jack’s direction as Jack continued to watch Alex and me.

Alex shrugged his shoulders, “He is not my main concern right now,” he said looking over at Jack and waving, “You and the spilling of your secrets are,” he told me turning back to me.

“Why do you care so much?” I asked nudging his side with my elbow.

“Because you are going to end up going crazy ham on him if I don’t get it out of you now,” he said shrugging his shoulders.
I gave him a skeptical look unsure of why he would think I’d get mad at Jack because I had feelings for him. Alex only smiled at me waiting for me to ‘spill my secrets’.

“Look,” he started obviously tired of waiting for a response, “I may not be Jack but I have noticed something over the time the two of you have been friends, and that is you keep stuff to yourself a lot. Jack eventually can weasel things out of you but sometimes you just go nuts on whoever it is that’s bothering you and while I know Jack isn’t technically bothering you by being the source of your affection but he isn’t going to ask you to tell him that you like him,” Alex stopped to meet my eyes for a moment, “He probably already knows you like him by the way.”

I scoffed cutting in off momentarily.

“You will end up yelling at him and saying things you don’t mean, Cade,” Alex said lowly as Jack approached us with Marie following behind him.

“Hey, Jack,” I greeted him brightly as if Alex and I hadn’t just been talking about the possibilities of my having feelings for him.

“Hey, Cady,” he said smiling but glancing between Alex and I, “Have you guys met Marie?” he asked gesturing towards her.

I shrugged, “In passing,” I said as Marie met my eyes giving me a look that almost looked acidic.

“Hi Marie,” Alex said smiling kindly at her, “Don’t mind Cade she’s a dealing with deep sexual tension right now,” he threw an arm around my shoulders hugging me.

I rolled my eyes and swatted Alex off of me. Jack let out an unsure chuckle as his eyebrows pulled together in confusion at Alex and me. “Sexual tension, aye?” Jack asked giving me a curious look before glancing at Alex clearly asking if I was suddenly interested in him.

I shrugged my shoulders, “It happens,” I answered giving Jack the impression that I did indeed have a thing for Alex.

The corners of Jack’s mouth pulled into a frown and I chuckled at him and shook my head because even if it meant that Jack might potentially believe that I had feelings for him I couldn’t let him think that I was interested in Alex. Jack gave a cautious chuckle before saying that they needed to get on stage.

I slipped off the amp with Alex and Jack pulled me into a hug, “Wish me luck?” he asked.

I chuckled, “Good luck,” I told him rolling my eyes that he’d even had to ask.

He gave me a quick squeeze before running onto the stage.
“What are you playing at?” Marie asked her eyes narrowed into a mild glare.

I raised an eyebrow at her, “What do you mean?” I asked not seeing what she could possibly have a problem with.

“Does he know you threatened me?” she demanded the bitchy persona that I hadn’t expected from her showing its ugly head.

I shrugged my shoulders, “If you haven’t told him then I suppose he doesn’t,” I said lying through my teeth, because I knew perfectly well that he did know.

“I’m going to ask you to back off,” she said sounding like she actually believed that she had enough power to make me listen to her.

I rolled my eyes, “Please, Marie,” I said, “Don’t make a fool of yourself. Jack is my best friend and I’m not going to ‘back off’; I’m not even on,” I insisted. She didn’t seem very happy about this but she backed off anyway. I leaned against the amp I had been sitting on before and watched the guys have the time of their lives on stage.

---------------------------------------------------

It’s funny. I don’t mean amusing, I suppose I mean strange. I hadn’t anticipated my best friend to go from being around all the time to just being there when it was time for a show or signing or to sleep. I didn’t take Marie seriously but I guess I should have. She clearly knew how to keep Jack and I apart.

I sat with my arms crossed and legs folded Indian style on a couch in the back lounge. I’ll admit that I was pissed off, and had been for the past couple of days. Tomorrow was the Fourth of July and everyone had the day off I wasn’t entirely sure that I’d be enjoying it given that I wasn’t sure I’d be spending it with my best friend.

So I did the only thing that seemed like a good idea I drank. I sat with a bottle of wine that I had originally started drinking out of a glass but that was taking too long; now I was drinking straight from the bottle.

“Cade,” Alex said grabbing my attention, “You are very, very drunk.”

I giggled and hugged my bottle to my chest, “That is very, very true,” I said nodding.

Everyone had been drinking except Jack of course who was not even on the bus at this point. We were having a mini party of sorts and Jack was off with Marie.

I let my head fall to rest on the back of the couch, “I’m an idiot,” I groaned, because honestly I felt like an idiot. I was sitting on a tour bus drinking way too much wine and wishing that my best friend would stop talking to some girl who may or may not try and keep us away from each other; the fact that I had feelings for Jack at this point was consequential.

“Wanna talk about it?” Alex asked plopping down on the couch beside me.

I shook my head no but words fell out of my mouth anyway, “Marie is not a nice girl, Alex,” I told him giving him what I was hoping was a serious face but given that I could feel a smile on my lips the look probably wasn’t as serious as I had hoped.

“Cade, Jack will realize that Marie isn’t a nice girl and he’ll drop her,” he said nodding his head once curtly as if that made it a done deal.

“He doesn’t like me,” I said frowning and looking at the floor.
Alex chuckled and threw and arm around my shoulders, “You are a very silly girl to believe that Jack doesn’t like you,” he told me hugging me into his side.

I rolled my eyes and pushed away from him sloppily, “No I mean he doesn’t like me as anything more than a friend,” I clarified hearing my words slur.

He rolled his eyes back at me and pinched my side, “I know what you were talking about, Cade, I’m not an idiot,” he looked as if he was thinking about something before he said, “Or well I’m not as big an idiot as Jack anyway.”

Jack waltzed onto the bus looking happy and I did my best to glare at him as I said, “Speak of the devil.”

“Oh Cady,” Jack said standing in front of me, “You are drunk.”
I frowned up at him nodding my head, “Yes I am!” I announced.

“Is anyone else this drunk?” Jack asked looking around the room to find everyone else either shrugging or shaking their heads.

“She’s drowning sorrows,” Alex stage whispered.
I attempted to smack Alex on the arm but I missed, “Hey don’t be blabbing my business,” I scolded glaring at him.

“Alright, Cady,” Jack said tapping my thigh, “Bedtime, let’s get you to the bunk.”

I shook my head and clutched my bottle of wine, “The party just started, Jack,” I whined.

Jack rolled his eyes and pulled me up, took my bottle away and guided me back to his bunk. I was stumbling and I knew that I’d had too much to even be awake right now but I was going to stay awake for as long as possible. I need to tell Jack something.

Jack and I climbed into his bunk after he’d gotten me to change into something to sleep in while he simply stripped down to his boxers.

Jack wrapped an arm around me and hugged me to his chest and even drunk the butterflies fluttered through my stomach. I rested my head on his chest and he rested his cheek on my hair.

“What has been up with you lately, Cady?” he asked kissing my hair rubbing his hand up and down my arm in a comforting way.

I sighed heavily, “I’m going home,” I told him knowing that it wasn’t coming out clearly and that he wasn’t going to pay any attention to it in the morning because he would think it was just a drunken thought.

He hugged me tighter, “No you aren’t,” he said wrapping his free arm around me as well.

I nodded my head before saying, “Yes I am. I’m getting in the way.”

“What would make you say that?” he asked sounding confused and I could picture this eyebrows pulled together and his mouth being pressed into a line.

“Marie wants you to herself,” I sighed out sadly as I pushed an arm under his back and threw my other arm over his stomach so that I could hug him.

Jack kissed my hair again, “Marie is going to have to learn to share,” he told me.

I shook my head, “She doesn’t want to, she asked me to back off,” I pouted still hugging him.

Jack chuckled, “Since when do you listen to girls that you would normally beat up?” he asked sounding curious.

I lifted my head so that I could look at his face, “She makes you happy,” I told him lifting a hand to touch his face. It was supposed to me a soft caress like from a movie but I was drunk and it wasn’t very caress like.

Jack took my wrist and pressed his lips against the palm of my hand before placing my hand back on his chest and wrapping his arm back around me. “I love you, Cady,” he told me smiling but his eyes seemed sad.

I smiled back, “I love you too, Jack,” I told him honestly.

“You’re not going to remember any of this tomorrow are you?” Jack asked tilting his head to look at me sideways.

I shrugged, “Won’t know until tomorrow,” I said feeling my eyes get heavy.

Jack nodded and leaned in pressing his lips against the corner of my mouth. “Get some sleep, Cady,” he said pulling away.
I sighed and laid my head back on his chest feeling the sleep take over as the butterflies danced in my stomach.