This Could Be All I've Waited For

The next morning, I was jolted awake by Zack yanking back the curtain to Jack’s bunk and frantically saying, “Jack, I can’t find-“ he stopped short and cocked his head to the side, “Oh there you are Cadence.”

Alex came up behind him smiling, “We thought we’d left you back in Salt Lake City,” his smile turned devious, “Lucky for us Jack managed to get you to bed last night.”

I glared at him with my one open eye and snuggled back into Jack’s chest, “Go the fuck away,” I mumbled.

I felt Jack’s chest rumble with the sound of his laugh and his hand grip my side.

“Someone is grumpy,” Zack observed leaning against the bunks on the opposite side of the isle.

“I just don’t like what he’s insinuating,” I said pushing myself up off of Jack’s chest, “and seeing as you guys are probably never going to shut up, I’m getting up.” And with that I climbed out of the bunk but stopped short, “Uh guys? When are we going to be somewhere that I can take a shower?” I asked realizing I smelled a little bit like alcohol.

“Not until Vegas stinky,” Alex said mocking me.

I gave him a hard look before grabbing a clean set of clothes and rooted around in my things to find my Wet Ones wipes because a Wet Ones bath is better than no bath at all. When I turned around to get to the bathroom Alex cocked his head and raised an eyebrow as he eyed my Wet Ones curiously. “I’m not going to just walk around stinking all day,” I said defensively and shut the bathroom door behind me.

“Don’t you guys have a show to put on or whatever?” I asked later that day as I became the victim of their banter yet again.

“Awe, are you tired of me already?” Jack asked leaning his head on my shoulder.

I eyed him, “Definitely,” I told him, “You better be glad that your birthday is tomorrow or I wouldn’t have even stayed this long.

Jack took a sharp breath and sat up quickly, “You don’t mean that, Cady,” he stated.

I rolled my eyes, “You would be surprised at how much I mean that,” I said.

Jack wrapped his arms around my neck pulling my head into his chest, “When did you become such a sour puss?” he asked in disbelief.

That’s two people that have pointed out how strangely I’ve been acting… it might be time to take a personal inventory of my actions, but this doesn’t seem like the time for it.

I relaxed into Jack and let out a huff of air, “I don’t know I’m working on it,” I mumbled into his shirt.

“Guys,” Zack said getting everyone’s attention, “Cadence is right we better get a move on before Matt goes ham on us.”

After everyone started moving to get up and go Zack hopped off the bus and made his way to the stage ahead of us. Jack let go of my neck after giving it a quick squeeze of a hug and then bounded out the door behind Zack calling for me to hurry up. I turned to Alex and Rian to see if they were getting ready to come as well so I didn’t have to chase after Jack when I found that they were smiling at me with some sort of knowing look in their eyes… the only problem was that I didn’t know what it was that they knew.

“I guess you could be right, Alex,” Rian said shrugging and leaving the bus without giving me any sort of explanation as to what it was that he meant.

Alex pulled me off of the couch by my elbow and pushed me towards the door.

“What was that about?” I asked Alex as we made our way to the stage.

Alex shrugged his shoulders, “Nothing,” he told me smiling devilishly.

I knew for a fact that he and Rian were keeping something from both Jack and I and I knew enough to put two and two together to know that this more than likely had something to do with the bet that they’d made a couple of days ago; from what I could tell Alex was winning.

“Fine I’m not going to push it,” I decided finally. What was the point in bothering Alex about some secret bet that had to do with me when I knew that Alex was one of the best secret keepers out there, when he wanted to be?

“Good,” he said nudging my shoulder with his.

When we made it to the stage Jack gave Alex and I a funny look before asking, “What took you two so long?”

I chuckled, “Sorry we don’t all sprint to our destinations,” I said sarcastically.

“Well we’re on in like ten minutes,” he nearly shouted.

I placed my hands on both sides of his face, “Chill out,” I said forcing him to look me in the eyes, “It’s not like you haven’t ever been late before,” I pointed out.

He nodded with my hands still on his face, “You’re right, so how does my hair look,” he asked looking up like he could see his own hair.

I laughed and took my hands off his face to fix his hair so it was styled the way it had been before he ran the whole way there, “All better,” I told him smiling.

“Oh good you guys decided to show up,” Matt joked appearing out of nowhere, “Go ahead and take the stage,” he said waving his hands in the general direction of the stage.

The guys all started filing their way towards the stage when Jack turned back around and jogged to me, “Good luck?” he asked leaning his face towards me and pointing at his lips.

I rolled my eyes and grabbed his chin turning his head to the side before I kissed his cheek and said, “Good luck, Jack.”

He grinned like a fool before a quick thanks and running out onto the stage. I watched him go and found that Alex was giving me that knowing smile again, I mouthed to him asking what he was smiling about he just winked and started yelling profanities to all of their adoring fans.

I just wish he’d let me in on the secret.