This Could Be All I've Waited For

“Cady,” Jack whispered my name trying to wake me up. He tapped my arm lightly and I just rolled over on the couch. “Cady you have to wake up,” he said lifting my head up long enough for him to sit down and then place my head on his knees.

“I don’t want to,” I whined in my gravelly morning voice.

“Well if you don’t get up and get ready now then I’ll have to leave you on the bus unattended and you don’t really know a lot of people and I’m going to be busy getting things ready for the show so I won’t be able to come back here to get you,” Jack explained sweeping my dark brown hair out of my face and tucking it behind my ear.

I sighed, “Fine I’ll get up but don’t expect anything extraordinary until at least ten,” I said pushing myself up.

“Got it, no greatness from Cady until you’ve been pumped full of caffeine,” he said grinning and kissing the side of my head, “But until then you should probably get dressed.”

I got up and made my way to my luggage as slowly as possible. I wasn’t in the mood to really think about what I was wearing so I pulled out the first pair of jeans and t-shirt that my hands touched. I pulled them on and pulled a brush through my hair and quickly brushed my teeth; there really wasn’t any need for makeup so I went back to the front lounge to walk with Jack to where ever it was that he needed to be.

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“Well aren’t you just too cool for school,” Rian commented as he stepped over me.

I was laying on the ramp that led up to the stage sunbathing in a pair of Ray-Bans that I’d stolen from Jack. I shrugged and continued laying there with my eyes closed. I know it’s a bad idea to fall asleep in the sun but I really wasn’t in a state to care I probably wouldn’t be in working order for another hour which was just in time for doors and catching a few winks would greatly increase my odds.

After what seemed like seconds I felt something nudging at my side. When I opened my eyes I found Alex was pushing on my side with his shoe.

“What do you want?” I asked covering my face with my arm.

“They’re letting people in and I’m pretty sure that whoever is playing here first doesn’t want to have to step over your lard ass,” he replied, “So get up!”

I rolled over onto my stomach and pushed myself up off the floor.

“I’m not a lard ass,” I said pushing him in the back, “Where is Jack?”

Alex shrugged, “He ran off this way about twenty minutes ago, he probably went to the merch tent.”

“So much for me staying with him until I figured this whole thing out,” I said sarcastically.

Alex chuckled, “You shouldn’t have fallen asleep, Jack can’t stay anywhere for too long.”
I shrugged without really saying anything as we walked in the direction that I trusted was the way to the merch tent.

“What’s with you, Cadence?” Alex asked nudging my arm with his elbow.

I thought about it for a second and shrugged not really sure what he was referring to, I hadn’t been fully awake all morning and was still out of it.

“You’ve been on edge,” he pointed out. When I didn’t say anything he sighed, “Look I’m not Jack so I don’t know how to translate everything into the weird jumbled mess that you two communicate in but something’s up with you.”

“Jack and I don’t have our own language,” I objected, “But I don’t know I guess I’ve been a little testy lately. I should probably get some real sleep tonight.”

“Good luck with that,” Alex teased, “It’s the first night of the tour there is bound to be a party!” he sounded so excited and I found myself dreading it already.

As we walked into the merch tent we found Jack was already being bombarded by a bunch of their fans; which were mostly teenage girls at this point. Alex joined in the fun and I hung back and did my best to stay out of the way.

“Cady!” Jack shouted spotting me.

I gave him a small wave and was set on staying in my spot when he tried to wave me over. The girls he was talking to were eyeing me in a way that made me uncomfortable. I didn’t want to be one of those girls that hangs out with popular bands and then is hated by all of the fans for no reason… I also didn’t want to be one of the girls that everyone thinks is friends with the band for fame because the idea was ridiculous.

I had kept my place in the background whenever the guys made appearances for the past five years and I wasn’t about to stop that now. I made my way to the table and climbed over to hang out with Vinny.

“How’s it going?” I asked sliding off the table.

He shrugged sitting back in his lawn chair, “Business is slow with these two knuckle heads hanging around,” he said gesturing to Jack and Alex, “Nobody wants to buy an All Time Low shirt when they can talk to a couple of the members.”

I sat down on one of the boxes holding some of the merchandise and put my back to the table so that I could lean on it.

“Are you going to the party tonight?” Vinny asked folding his arms across his chest.

I rolled my eyes, “Do you think I’ll actually have a choice?” I asked.

Vinny chuckled and shook his head. We both knew that with Jack I didn’t have a choice of where and when I went somewhere.

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“Have you lost your mind?” I shouted to Jack as he poured himself another shot of tequila.
Jack chuckled and held out the shot glass to me, “Come on Cady drink up,” he told me smiling widely.

I was about to shake my head and tell him I wasn’t interested in drinking when some girl that I’d never seen before called him away. He gave me a quick smile and put the shot glass in my hand before taking off to go talk to her.

I watched as the girl touched his arm and laughed at something he’d said which I was almost positive wasn’t that funny.

“Hey Cadence,” Alex said coming up behind me and slinging an arm over my shoulders.

“Hey Alex,” I greeted him glumly without taking my eyes off of Jack and this new girl that I was hoping didn’t know him as well as she made it look. I wasn’t sure what the burning feeling in my chest was but I was sure of what would put it at ease; I threw my head back and tossed the shot of fiery liquid down my throat.

Alex opened his mouth like he was about to say something but then closed it and shook his head before saying, “I don’t even feel like I’m corrupting you by letting you drink anymore,” his tone made him sound almost disappointed.

“Yeah well I think I want another,” I said holding up the tiny glass.

Alex looked from me to Jack and then back to me. Finally he shook his head and removed his arm from my shoulders then took my glass to fill it again.

I did my best to keep my eyes away from Jack and the girls that wanted to flirt with him all night but it isn’t my forte. I didn’t like the way my chest hurt when I saw them or the confusion that I felt towards the feeling, but it was almost addicting in a way. Every time I heard his voice or laugh my eyes would snap right back to him like an automatic reaction. The whole thing was so frustrating that I found myself getting more drinks just to give myself something to do and pretty soon I couldn’t keep the world from tilting.

“Cady?” I heard Jack say in disbelief slurring his words a bit.

He hadn’t talked to me since he had left me the first time around.

Before I could turn my head to see him his arm was around my waist, “How many drinks have you had?” he asked his words connecting in a strange way.

I leaned into him to keep my balance, “I haven’t had too much,” I said waving away his concern.

Jack laughed, “Cady, you are slurring your words so bad I can’t understand what you’re saying,”
he said smiling widely still slurring his own words.

“You’re the one slurring,” I said pushing on him as he led us away from the party.

He chuckled and wrapped his arm more tightly around my waist and continued pulling me along with him.

“Where are we going?” I whined wanting to sit down for a rest.

Jack didn’t slow down or let me go, “We’re going back to the bus because we have had too much party,” he said knowingly.

I saw the bus come into view and suddenly felt so tired that I was afraid that I would fall asleep as we walked. He dragged me up the bus steps and through the front lounge.

“Jack we passed my bed,” I whined trying to pull away from him and go back to the couch so I could go to sleep.

Jack pulled back the curtain to his bunk and climbed in pulling me with him. I didn’t have a chance to care because I was so comfortable using his chest as a pillow that I was asleep before Jack had even thrown the blankets over us.