This Could Be All I've Waited For

I don’t think that waking up the day after partying way too hard will ever be fun, and to be honest, I’m not really all that sure why everyone is willing to endure it. I woke up to the sounds of the Vegas strip and knew for absolute certain that I had no idea where I was before I’d even opened my eyes. I honestly tried to remember what the last thing I did was and came up with dancing with Alex… which I knew couldn’t be the last thing I’d done last night.

It was when I noticed someone else’s breathing that I finally opened my eyes. I tilted my head trying to figure out who exactly I was with and found that I was no longer wearing my clothes from last night; instead I was sporting someone else’s shirt over my bra and I was pretty sure that I was still wearing my underwear but the view was blocked by someone’s head as they used my stomach as a pillow. I knew the moment I spotted the tuft of blond hair that it was Jack which eased my mind for only about a milla-second.

I started jumping to conclusions and then realized that I was wearing Jack’s shirt which is why he was shirtless. I tried to move out from under him, but as soon as I had hoisted myself into a half way sitting position he woke up.

“Good morning, Cady,” he said in a slightly groggy voice.

“How did you know it was me when all you can see are my legs?” I asked pushing his head off of my stomach and pulling his shirt down so all of my vitals were covered.

“Because I took you up here last night,” he said as if I should already know that.

My eyes grew wide, “You remember what happened last night?” I asked… now that he mentioned it I think I do remember Jack tugging me in here.

He laughed at me and scratched the back of his neck, “Yeah I remember,” he said, “You were way too drunk to be left alone out there with all of those guys, so I blew Alyssa off and brought you in here. You refused to put down this bottle of Smirnoff until you were done though so we were chatting and stuff just lying in the bed and you decided that your clothes were way too tight and they just had to come off I made sure you kept the undies though,” he gave me a sly smile and if there had been any pillows I would have thrown one at him…

Come to think of it there weren’t any blankets on the bed either.

“What happened to the bed?” I asked looking around the room until I found the mountain of pillows and blankets in the corner, “Why aren’t those up here?” I asked pointing at it.

“I was getting to that,” he said holding up a finger, “After you stripped down to your fun girly things, you claimed that the pillows were harder than rocks so they had to go and the blankets matched therefore they were also guilty by association and I think those were your exact words,” he said chuckling under his breath.

I pulled at his shirt, “And how did I get this?” I asked.

“You said you were cold,” he told me shrugging his shoulders.

“Well aren’t I the most high maintenance drunk on the planet,” I said laughing a little at myself.

The door to the bedroom swung open abruptly startling both Jack and I and Alex came in shouting, “Jack, we lost Cade-“ he stopped short when he saw me, “Why is it that whenever we lose you, you are always in Jack’s bed?” he asked putting his hands on his hips.

I shrugged, “Because he’s the one who makes sure I get to a bed?” I suggested.

Jack nodded, “That sounds like a reasonable answer,” he said nodding and frowning appreciatively.

“That doesn’t explain why you are both half naked this time,” Alex mused then leaned his head out the door and shouted, “Rian, you owe me five more!”

Rian came running up behind Alex saying, “No I don’t,” when he came into view his eye grew wide, “Well damn it that didn’t take long.”

I narrowed my eyes at the boys, “What are you two talking about?” I asked

“Did you guys… you know,” Rian said looking back and forwards between Jack and I.

“No shit!” Zack said running to pile up behind Rian and Alex peeking his head over them as if seeing Jack and I would confirm everything.

“Jack, please tell me that they are being ridiculous,” I said looking to him with wide eyes.

Jack laughed at my expression, “Guys, I’m still wearing my jeans and my belt,” he said pointing to both, “I’m pretty sure it’s guaranteed that nothing happened here last night.”

I breathed a sigh of relief and Zack and Alex looked a little upset while Rian rejoiced, “Yes!” Rian shouted, “That five is still mine, pinky,” he said sticking his finger in Alex’s face.

I laughed at the scene they were creating and got off the bed, “Yeah on that note I’m going to go find my suit case and a shower,” I said pushing my way through the guys.

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“Hey!” I heard Jack’s voice shout through the bus.

“What?” I shouted back. We were out of Vegas and back to business on the tour.

“Are you coming to the signing?” he asked walking into the back lounge where I was reading.

I shrugged and put my book down, “Yeah I guess,” I said getting up.

Jack eyed me curiously, “What are you wearing?” he asked pointing at my outfit.

I smoothed out the fabric of my dress, “A red and white polka dot dress,” I said looking up to meet his gaze.

He shook his head, “Whatever floats your boat,” he said grabbing my hand and dragging me through the bus.

“You know I can walk, without you pulling on me, right?” I asked halfway to the tent.

Jack slowed down so that we were walking at a normal pace so when we arrived at the tent I wasn’t out of breath. Jack took his seat at the table and I took a seat directly behind him at the table where Matt, Danny, and a few of other guys from the crew were.

Matt broke out a deck of cards and started dealing them out so we could play Texas hold ‘em betting with tootsie rolls.

“Alright I’ve got two pairs 6’s and 8’s,” Matt said throwing down his cards to show everyone five hands in.

I laughed because he seemed so sure that he had won I laid down my cards, “Straight!” I shouted, “I win again bitches!”

“I hate you so much right now,” Danny said.

“Hey watch your mouth,” Jack said turning his head around to give Danny a look.

“She has won like 3 hands in a row,” Danny said defending himself.

“You can’t hate her because you suck at poker,” Jack told him.

“Thank you, Jack,” I said smiling devilishly at Danny because he’d gotten in trouble.

Jack leaned his head back so it was resting on my shoulder, “Any time,” he told me before straightening up and going back to the signing.

“Oo, Cadence,” Matt said under his breath as Danny dealt the cards. I gave him a questioning look as I counted the cards in front of me to make sure I had the right number. “You are getting some pretty crazy looks from some of these ladies,” he told me glancing over at the line of fans.

I turned around and found that a few girls were whispering and looking over at me periodically, “I’m not going to die right?” I joked.

The guys laughed at my wide eyes and the way I was biting my lip.

“What is so funny?” Jack asked turning his entire body around in his seat and pulling my head back so that he was looking down at me.

I shrugged my shoulders, “Nothing that would be funny if I retold it,” I said.

“Oh okay,” he said letting go of me, “Carry on weirdoes,” he said waving his hand and turning back around.

After I had won six hands in a row the guys decided it was time for them to start setting up for the show and I tagged along because sitting behind Jack and the guys as they signed stuff for their fans alone didn’t really sound appealing.

Danny showed me how to do his job pretty much and I decided that I’d help him with set up from now on because it beat sitting on the bus or in the hot sun somewhere waiting around.
I was checking something for Danny with one of the amps when Jack nearly knocked me over hugging me.

“We have an interview tonight,” he told me still hugging me.

“That’s great,” I told him, hugging him back with one arm and using the other to hold a thumbs up to Danny.

He let me go and started jumping around, “What are you doing over here anyway?” he asked still jumping.

“I’m training her in the art of teching,” Danny said as he walked by.

“You guys are on,” the stage manager called out.

Jack grabbed his guitar and yelled out, “Wish me luck,” as he started for the stage.

“Good luck!” I called back.

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After the interview the guys decided to hang around with some fans. I didn’t really mind hanging back and chatting with the crew, I’d known all of them for just about as long as I’d known the guys. Jack hugged me before running off to join the rest of the guys surrounded by tons of fans and I made my way towards the guys from the crew.

“Man you guys should have been at the interview tonight though,” Matt was saying as I got close enough to be in ear shot, “I thought that Cadence was actually going to kill that girl.”

Danny Grieco and Vinny laughed at him and I knew that they had seen me. Vinny gave me a subtle wink before asking, “What makes you say that?”

Matt let out a throaty laugh and said, “You’re kidding right? That interviewer was all over Jack and Cade didn’t miss any of it,” then he added, “I think she might have gone white knuckled a couple of times.”

“You think so?” I asked coming up beside Matt and patting his back.
Matt coughed like he was choking, “How long have you been standing there?” he asked trying to recover.

“Long enough to know that you think I am way more badass than I actually am,” I joked.

“Well we all know how protective you are over Jack especially when it comes to the media whores,” Danny said crossing his arms, “I honestly don’t think the girl being a body builder would stop you from putting up a fight.”

I sucked some air in and made a face, “I don’t know, I scare pretty easy,” I countered.

“The sad part is that Jack doesn’t even realize when a really slutty girl is flirting with him until she tries to get him into bed,” Vinny pointed out chuckling.

“Thick skulled, that one is,” Grieco said agreeing with Vinny.

“Did you and Jack drink anything before you guys left the bus?” Danny asked eyeing the crowd that the guys were immersed in.

I shrugged, “Jack took a couple of shots,” I said trying to see what Danny was seeing but my height wasn’t on my side.

“Well then, super protective best friend, you might want to dive in there before he does something that you’ll be mad at him for later,” Vinny said clearly seeing what Danny meant.

“I’ll help,” Matt said when he saw my doubtful look, “Come on,” he instructed holding out his hand for me to take so we wouldn’t get separated in the mob.

When we entered a bit of a clearing I found what they had all been so concerned about. Jack was nearly being cornered by three girls that were pulling on his clothes and getting too close for my comfort… who knows how Jack felt about it. Alex, Zack, and Rian were all too busy talking to various other groups of people to even notice what was going on with Jack and if they had known that he’d had anything to drink they probably would have made him stay back at the bus.

Matt and I were going in to make a move to break it up and take Jack back to the bus when one of the girls pulled on the collar of Jack’s tee shirt and kissed him roughly. I stopped cold in my tracks and almost lost my breath a little. Matt looked back to me and searched my face anxiously probably afraid that I was going to cause a scene which I might have been doing if my heart was beating as loudly as it seemed. I was really starting to have a hard time trying to catch my breath until I heard Jack’s voice.

“Whoa,” I heard him say, “Look you are really nice ladies but I am not interested.”

I looked up in time to see him shove his hands in his pockets and look over to Alex yelling, “I’m calling it a night,” before he started walking towards where Matt and I were standing. When his eyes met mine his face lit up in a priceless smile and he took his hands out of his pockets jogging over to us.

“Hey there pretty lady,” he said throwing an arm around my shoulders and smiling down at me in a way that made it harder to breathe for an entirely different reason.

I laughed trying to play it cool, “Maybe we should cut back on the hard liquor for a little while,” I suggested peeking up at him.

“I like wine better anyway,” he whispered leaning down and letting his lips brush against my ear as he laughed.

I let out a breathy nervous laugh and tried to cover up my blush as he opened the door for me to get onto the bus.

This isn’t how best friends are supposed to be. And that was all I could think about while all the guys celebrated a great show.