Long Live the Fast Times

I didn’t want to tell Rian about the argument with our parents. He wasn’t home much and spoiling the time he had here would be awfully selfish of me and I’m already a burden anyway.

“Ri?” My head snapped towards the door and a huge smile graced my lips. “Oh, sorry, I just didn’t know where you were.” Cassadee blushed and bit her lip.

Rian smiled at her, he looked truly happy, “Hey Cass, it’s okay, you can come in.” She came in and sat next to my brother, her knees knocking his own. I couldn’t stop smiling around them, they were too damn cute. “Are you okay?” I heard him whisper as he turned to face her slightly.

“Honey, I’m fine, stop fussing,” She whispered back, a furious blush on her cheeks. They’d never really been around me as couple but I enjoyed it, it was heart-warming.

The door opened again and Matt came through it, he looked tired as hell, “Hey Rian, are you having a shower here or at the hotel?”

“You guys are staying here the night?” I asked, my mind racing with thoughts of having the whole night and maybe the morning to spend with them. What about all that extra time spent lying as well?

“Yeah, they have a day off tomorrow but we have to leave tomorrow night to make it to the next venue in time,” Matt explained, moving me out of my seat and placing me back on his lap.

“What? Why didn’t you say? Oh my god!” I squealed and hugged Matt. He just laughed.

“I’ll have a shower at the hotel, it’ll be easier. Hey, babe, help me round up the rabble?” He turned to the girl who couldn’t take her eyes off of him. She nodded and grabbed his outstretched hand as they practically raced out of the room to find the rest of the boys who were supposedly showering.

I turned to Matt and looked at him dead in the eyes, “Come home with me.”

“You’re only saying this because you need a ride,” He pouted and I laughed.

“Matty Mouse, I haven’t seen you in weeks, we need a Disney marathon!” He just laughed and kissed the top of my head.

“Whatever makes you happy, my Princess Ariel,” I leaned back and enjoyed the embrace of my best friend; the same embrace I’d craved for the last few months.

We stayed in that position for a while, until Jack barged into the room and lifted me from Matt’s grip. “My Ariel! My Ariel!” He shouted as he hoisted me over his shoulder so that my face was practically slammed into his butt. “My Ariel!”

He jogged around the room and then ran out, still carrying me. He continued until he was out of the venue, “Damn Jack, you’re stronger than you look.”

“Hey! These stick arms have some secret muscles packed in there, don’t be fooled!” I laughed but started to feel a bit light-headed as he carried me all the way over to the bus. “You know you guys have been in there for ages, we’ve already spoken to fans and everything.”

“What, we were only there for like ten minutes, max.”

Jack put me down and I steadied myself against the bus, “Nope, more like half hour.” My eyes widened and he just laughed. I turned around and noticed all three bands standing around.

Matt ran out of the venue and towards us, he stopped in front of Jack with his hands on his knees. His breathing was heavy as he panted out the words, “Fuck you, Barakat.” He wagged his finger at the boy he was scolding but no one could take him serious as he tried to catch his breath.

“Aw Matty Mouse, when did you become so unfit?” I asked and giggled as he stayed bent over and tried to hit me but failed, barely brushing my knee.

“Fuck you too, Dawson.”

“Hey! He was the one that stole me! I’m innocent,” I shot him my best ‘puppy-dog eye’ look as he stood up and he stepped towards me.

He ran a hand through his hair before answering, “Fine. You know I can’t say anything bad to that face, dork.”

“Dork? Whoa Matt, don’t get too serious with the name-calling there,” I joked and rolled my eyes. “Oh by the way, I’m stealing Matt for a movie night, okay?”

The group all rolled their eyes but Jack pouted, “What about me? I’m your BFFL too, Elle!”
My arms snaked around the skinny boy’s waist and I muffled into his hoodie, “You can come too, B-Kat. I’ve missed you.”

In response Jack just patted the top of my head and crossed his arms, “Good girl.”

The rest of the group were all talking about who was sharing rooms and Alex pulled Jack away, saying something about how Jack needed to get his Home Alone DVDs if he were to be partaking in a movie night.

Matt was talking to Colussy, something about check out times in the morning so I sneaked onto the All Time Low bus. I stayed by the door and there was a curtain partitioning the sleeping bunks from the kitchen area. “It’s just one night, Lex.”

I didn’t dare take a step forward in case they heard me but I strained trying to hear Alex’s reply. “I know, but it’s just… I’ll miss you,” His reply was a mumble but I still heard it. I restrained myself from saying ‘aw’ out loud like a teenage girl and carried on listening. “Won’t you miss me too?”

Jack’s laughter came after Alex’s shy and unsure question, “Of course I’ll miss you, don’t ever doubt that, okay?” I felt like suddenly this wasn’t just best friends missing each other and that I was in fact ruining a special moment. Turning to exit the bus, my shoes squeaked on the floor and I cursed in my mind as Alex pushed the curtain back and Jack looked out wide-eyed and scared.

“Guys, it’s just me, calm down. I’m sorry,” I mumbled. I felt awful, I’d just ruined something and clearly they didn’t want anyone to see.

“It’s fine, Ariel. I was just helping Jacko find his DVDs and telling him I’d miss him tonight, we always stay up late and raid the hotel fridge for those awesome little bottles of liquor you get, you know the ones?” Alex looked at me, a smile on his lips but a pleading look in his eyes.

“Like the ones you get on airplanes? Yeah, they’re awesome. Did you know you can buy those in Walmart now?” Alex‘s smile hit his eyes as I replied.

Jack walked out of the bunk space with his Home Alone DVDs cradled close to his chest.

“Seriously? I’d never buy ‘em though, they’re not really big enough for any proper kicks,” Alex said, and mouthed ‘thank you’ at the end. “We’ll all meet up tomorrow and have breakfast somewhere, yeah? We’ll spend as much time together as possible.” Alex’s promise kept me hopeful that I wouldn’t break in the next day or so because of the great time I’d expectantly be having.

“Yo, B-Kat, let’s go,” I practically whined as I grabbed his hand and pulled him off the bus. “Jacko, it’s fine, stop.” I mumbled as he still looked nervous around me. Leaning up, my lips brushed his cheek and he smiled down at me as we caught the attention of everyone else. “Guys! Can we go now because I’m tired and I just wanna cuddle with my two favourite boys.” Everyone aw-ed at me and I rolled my eyes, crossed my arms and stomped my foot like a child.

They all started piling into the buses as Matt explained he’d called a cab for us to take back to my apartment. I saw Bella say goodbye to Cass and Kurily and hugs and numbers were exchanged. The smile on my face slowly faded as I saw Rian walk towards me instead of the bus entrance.

“I just got a text from Mom.”

“S-saying what?” My words came out choked from my mouth as I tried to think of how to explain everything.

Rian gave Matt a pointed look and pulled me over to the side of the building, “Hey Ri, I just heard you were in town for a show, how come you didn’t tell me? Ariel, what the fuck, I asked you to remind them!”

I flinched away from my brother who was fuming. Rian was pretty calm, it took a lot to work him up and I felt so bad. “R-Rian, please. I was going to b-but, they stopped- and so I went- but they- I.” Sentences whirled around my head and I couldn’t pick out where to start. Tears pricked my eyes and I shook my head, taking a huge breath. “Rian, I went to my appointment this week and- Please don’t be angry. I got sent home from it.”

Confusion was clear on his face, he had no reason to know why any of this connected into our mother missing his hometown show. “Why? Ariel, what did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything! Ri, they stopped paying for my therapy, okay? They just stopped paying because hey, I quit college so obviously I should be able to pay for my own sessions and not have to be such a burden when really I’m only doing it for attention anyway.” My hand flew to my mouth, he didn’t need to know about that. Dammit, Ariel.

Rian stood in front of me, his eyes assessing me. “They wouldn’t say that.” I gaped at him, he didn’t believe me? “Ariel, they care so much, they wouldn’t just say it was all for attention.”

Maybe he didn’t want to believe me, I could understand that. Why would you ever want to believe that your parents didn’t care about your sister all that much? Especially considering Rian and I were pretty close. I could only imagine how scared my mom was about how our argument could distance herself and Rian. “They did, Ri. Mom thinks this is all some attention thing.”

Rian stood up straight and took a deep breath, “Why would they even think that? It wasn’t for attention… was it?”

I rolled my eyes – my brother knew me better than anyone else in the whole world (even Matt and Jack, well, maybe) and now he was doubting that? Typical. “You know it isn’t for attention.” I saw Rian close his eyes as he flinched slightly as I said “isn’t” instead of “wasn’t”. Rian desperately tried to ignore the fact that sometimes I slipped and he wanted to stay positive so it was always something that I “had done” not something I “did”.

“Sorry. I just- I don’t understand why she would say something like that. She knows about it all and why and everything and it’s just ridiculous of her to even suggest something like doing it for attention!” Rian was getting irritated and infuriated thinking about it. As much as I was completely hurt by and angry at my mother didn’t give me the right to just let Rian be furious with her as well.

“Rian, calm down, it doesn’t even matter. I’m sorry I didn’t remind her, I was just angry. I didn’t mean for you to miss out on seeing them, I’m so sorry, it’s all my fault. I’m sorry I screwed up, I wasn’t really thinking about what it would mean to you that she wasn’t here I was just upset.” His face told me that he didn’t buy what I’d said at all. In fact he looked even more worried about the fact I blamed myself despite it actually being all my fault.

He kissed the top of my head as Matt called him, “It’s not your fault, I can just go round there tomorrow. Come with me?”

He looked so hopeful and honestly I didn’t want to disappoint him, not after ruining having our parents here. That was the reasoning behind my whisper of, “Sure.” You’re just going to ruin his time with your parents tomorrow.

It was true; I would almost definitely ruin any of his chances at having a happy few hours with our parents. We’d argue, Rian would get upset, I’d get upset and I’d just break again.

“Rian, hurry your fat ass up!”

“Asskarth, shut your dirty whore mouth, my brother will be there soon!” I shouted back, my eyes not leaving Rian’s face.

“Hey Ariel, I didn’t realise you both shared the name Rian as well as Dawson.”

I sighed and rolled my eyes as Alex’s behaviour before feeling someone poke my shoulder. Turning around I saw Bella standing next to me, “Hey, our cab will be here in a couple of minutes apparently.” I just nodded and hugged my brother.

“Rian why don’t you start being like Zack and shutting the fuck up so we can leave already!” I heard Alex shout out an ‘Ow’ and I imagined someone had hit him, probably Zack.

“Hey Asskarth, why don’t you take a leaf out of Zack’s book as well and shut your fucking pie-hole” I shouted back as I walked towards the bus, leaving Bella and my brother alone.

Alex came down the stairs of the bus and walked towards me, his chest bumping my own as he puffed it out, trying to look ‘tough’. “Bring it on, Dawson.”

“Make me, Asskarth.” He pushed my shoulders slightly and I stumbled back a little despite how pathetic his attempt at shoving was. “Did you just push me, Asskarth?”

“Don’t play dumb, Dawson, it’s not cute,” He stuck his tongue out at me and I smiled as I pushed his shoulders with my palms, harder than him because hey, he’s a guy, he can handle it.

“Hey, neither is your face but you don’t hear me complaining about it.” The guys had their heads stuck out the windows of the buses and gave a shout of ‘Ooh Gaskarth got owned’ just like when they phoned me two weeks prior.

Alex narrowed his eyes at me and snapped his fingers, “Oh no girl, you did not just say I am not cute!” I failed miserably at trying to stifle my laughter as he raised an eyebrow and shook his head at me slowly.

“You bet yo’ ass I did, Asskarth. What are you doing to do about it – use your ugliness to make me cry?”

‘Ooh Gaskarth got owned’ rung out through the parking lot again and I grinned at all of them on the buses behind Alex. “Guys, stop picking on me!” Alex whined, stamping his feet and crossing his arms like he was a child again.

I wrapped my arms around him and he stopped stomping, “Aw, I’m sorry Alex, but you make it so easy to mock you.”

He looked down at me with an un-amused look which I read to say a sarcastic ‘thanks’. “You suck, Dawson.”

“I think you’re talking about my brother, not me,” I winked at Alex as I moved out of the hug and he chuckled.

“It’s always fun with you, isn’t it?” He smiled and kissed my forehead. “You better dash, babe, your taxi’s here. Thanks for earlier, keep my boys safe, okay?” He whispered as he moved back from me.

I shot him a smirk, “No problem.” I began to walk away as Rian said bye to me and jogged to the bus and Bella went to get into the taxi. Looking behind me I saw Alex was about to step onto All Time Low’s bus before I shouted back, “And don’t call me babe.”

Vinny high-fived Alex as he walked on the bus and I saw them moments later at the window, their heads sticking out as I opened the door to the cab, “Laters, babe!” Their shout made me raise my hand in a rather rude gesture before I sat down and closed the door.

“Let’s go home!” Jack shouted and I laughed as the cab driver pulled away from the venue. Tonight was just about me and my boys, I don’t have to worry about my parents or Rian until tomorrow, it can all wait. Yeah, tomorrow you can start to worry about ruining your brother’s relationship with your parents. You enjoy yourself tonight, Ariel, that’s not selfish at all.