‹ Prequel: The Summer at the Warped Tour
Where Were You When My Walls Came Falling Down?
Players Will Get Played, That's The Rules!
We found them and talked them into letting Alex play, “How much you lost Vegas?” I asked and he sighed “More than I’ve won” he said scratching his head. I sat on Jeremy’s knee as Alex took his seat with them and Jack leant up the wall nearby, I could play poker sufficiently enough that if strip poker was ever played I wasn’t going to be taking much clothing off but Jeremy was something else.
The guy rarely lost, in fact if you were going to play him for money you might as well just hand it all over and forget the game because he’d win. Vinny was pretty good but nothing special, I saw what Jeremy had in his hand and recognised it as a good hand so I stuck with the plan kissing his cheek. He smiled kissing me before throwing $50 on the table they were using and Alex folded leaving Vinny.
Half an hour later and Alex had made $100 out of it and we were all playing it cool, I noticed Alex groan quietly as he saw his cards and I saw Jeremy’s were bad as well so I coughed and Jack encouraged Vinny to play big money so he placed $100 on the table straight out. The next thing I knew they were talking $400 and Jeremy was still playing his hand even though it was shocking, Vinny bitched out but Alex stayed raising the money higher until it reached $600. Alex called and Jeremy put his cards down to see Alex had won and my eyes widened.
“Fuck yeah!” Alex shouted fist pumping the air and Jack clapped before realising and stopping and Alex smiled at me. Vinny and Jeremy left to get lunch and I walked to Alex “I want my share right now before you spend it on liquor” I stated and he sighed handing over my part when I heard the door open and I knew we’d been busted. “What’s this?” Jeremy asked and I bit my lip keeping my back to him as I shoved the cash in my pocket “What’s what? I asked turning around smiling.
“You guys, were you playing us? You were weren’t you, you sly bastards” he snapped and I looked at him “What were you doing in all this?” he asked me and I tried to think fast “Hang on you were fucking telling them my hand weren’t you? You were the only one who could see what I had so you must’ve been doing it. You fucked me over to get money, I can’t believe you guys” Jeremy argued.
“No we never, I always get Vinny to play big money because he always loses, the pressure of it gets to him” Jack defended “Yeah and how would I ever know what you had even if she did, what was she giving me some form of signal or something?” Alex asked and I hated him for saying it straight away “You were, you kept kissing my cheek and coughing, you had a system! I cannot believe you, if you needed money I’d give you it but to take it that way is shady” he shouted.
“Its not about needing money, its about the thrill of doing it. If you want the money back you can have it” Alex cut in “No keep your stupid money” Jeremy snapped storming off. “Well done Einstein! Now he’s pissed with me, for that I’m taking an extra $50 from you both because right now the last thing I need is him and me arguing again so I think I deserve it seeing as you talked me into it” I snapped taking it from them and running after Jeremy.
I saw him get on the bus and I followed him “Jeremy” I said and he spun around “What?” he snapped as I shut the door “Sorry” I offered holding the money out and he sighed “I can’t believe you played me, why would you do that?” he asked and I shrugged “They talk and I get carried away, you know that. We were just goofing around, you know we’d never do it seriously” I explained, “I don’t know $600 is pretty serious money darling” he replied and I smiled.
I was still darling so I was still in his good books, “I’ve got $300 of it though” I said putting it in his hand and he shook his head at me as I looked up at him “Don’t look at me like that” he stated and I pouted “Stop it” he snapped and I smiled at him. “I’m serious, I’m mad with you” he stated and I nodded walking to my bunk grabbing my laptop.
I found Benji Madden online and started chatting to him on webcam when I saw the curtain at the side of me move and Jeremy climbed in next to me. “You were supposed to cry and beg for forgiveness not go to bed and chat to someone,” Jeremy stated and I nodded. “Yeah but you weren’t really mad so there was really no point in boosting that ego of yours” I replied and he laughed kissing my cheek “Hey dude!” he said looking at the laptop and laying on his stomach next to me.
Him and Benji started talking before Jeremy yawned “Right I’m going to sleep, talk soon” he said rolling over onto his side wriggling further down the bunk and resting his head on my back. I heard him breathing several minutes later and knew he was asleep, I carried on talking to Benji for ages before he had to go and I said we’d talk soon before turning my laptop off and I felt Jeremy’s hand on my leg.
“You know I’m not letting you go punishment free for this” he said and I smiled before moving to put my laptop on the bunk opposite, he lifted his head and I rolled onto my back. He rested his head on my stomach looking up at me “I’m not joking, you will pay for what you did and when I think of the punishment I’ll tell you” he said as I played with his hair.
“You’d never give me a harsh punishment McKinnon because underneath all this tough guy chat you actually hate seeing me do things I don’t like” I bragged and he scoffed “Sweetie there’s nothing I like more than seeing you do something you hate just because I told you to” he said smiling as he closed his eyes and I pulled his hair hard hoping to hurt him.
“Darling that’d work but you know I love having my hair pulled,” he said and I smiled “You’re a mean boy” I said quietly “Yeah but I’m your mean boy” he replied and I laughed “Your so clichéd sometimes” I replied and he nodded “Only for you, I was a typical guy until I met you and now look what you’ve done to me” he teased and I laughed.
He opened his eyes “You don’t even care you’ve got me hooked do you?” he asked and I laughed ”Nah not really, I mean I’ve been trying to get rid of you for long enough, take a hint” I joked and he laughed “Well you won’t be getting rid of me soon, now shut up so I can fall asleep again” he ordered and I smiled.
He moved up to rest his head next to mine and I dragged my fingers through his hair, “God dammit woman make me fall asleep!” he snapped and I laughed “Oi I want to sleep now send me to fucking sleep, do your job and give me what I want” he demanded and I rolled away from him “Erm nope that’s not going to work, make me sleepy” he snapped and I rolled back to face him.
I smiled as he closed his eyes again and began moving my fingers in circular motions in his hair occasionally tracing my finger around his ear as I closed my own eyes. It fell silent and I presumed he was close to sleep until I felt him kiss me “In coming sickly sweet moment” he warned and I smiled as he pulled himself as close to me as possible. “I know I mess around with the guys, take the piss out of you at every chance I get and we bicker but I’m never serious. I never mean what I say when I tease you about stuff and I’ve never been real angry at you before; okay so I was fuming when you took that ring off but I was more hurt than angry. You’ll always come first with me; I’m yours and whenever you shout I’ll always come running. Nothing and nobody is changing that, I’m not going to lie and say I knew it the moment I met you because I honestly didn’t” he rambled on.
“Charming” I said “Well I didn’t” he replied and I heard the smile in his voice. “We’ve both been through things and had our confidence and our belief in people knocked but I think that’s made us what we are. I only ever expect you to be honest and to be there when I need you, I know you don’t like the idea of me being away so much but you have to trust me. I’ve done this before and I know I can pull us through this, I can get us through these tours and months apart; but you have to promise me that you turn to me and only me” he admitted.
“Jess promise me” he said quietly and I opened my eyes “What do you mean?” I asked and his own eyes fluttered open “The moment you turn to someone else is the moment things fall apart, I’ve been there before darling I know how it works. You turn to someone else to vent to and then suddenly you expect more of them than you should and then you drift from the other person and bam your breaking up. No matter what it is you have to tell me, there’ll be times you want to kill me for choosing this life but I want to hear it, yeah we might argue like we’ve never argued before but I’d rather argue than not talk to you” he explained and I shook my head.
“Sweetie do you trust me?” he asked and I nodded “Then trust that I know what I’m saying, you have to tell me it all. I love that your honest with me, one of the things that makes you stand out to me is that I can tell you it straight and not worry you’ll get hurt; your made of some strong stuff you are and that’s going to come in handy when I tour and your working” he admitted.
“I’m so used to you being here” I said and he nodded “I know and it’s my own fault for staying too long” he replied “I just don’t want to forget about each other, I’ve seen the boys go through it; it’s like you forget to talk one day and suddenly you’ve not spoken for 3 weeks and your not even bothered anymore” I admitted.
“Well that won’t happen because we’ll make sure we talk everyday, plus I remember the end of the last tour after we’d first met. I thought about you everyday, I wanted to see you everyday and we weren’t even together properly; I didn’t know what I was missing back then but I sure do now. You can always come visit as well,” he offered and I shook my head “Yes you can. Shelnutt loves you, well he loves everyone but he thinks your cool” he reasoned.
“I only know him” I replied and he smiled kissing me “That’s just Alex, the others like you but they’re just more reserved I think. They were just wary of who you were and who your friends are, plus you’re a bit of a whirlwind aren’t you?” he asked and I looked at him “Come on your fucking mental, I love you for it but sometimes your crazy. The first non-work conversation you had with them stopped halfway as Jack and you tried to piss Alex off by poking him and dancing around him. See why maybe they were off with you?” he asked and I chewed my lip.
“I thought you were funny and so did Alex but the others just think your strange, they’ll come around when they spend more time with you” he reassured and I smiled at him “What?” he asked “You thought about me everyday but we weren’t even dating” I teased “We were dating, I count it as dating because we agreed not to be with anyone else” he argued back. “Yeah but we both said we weren’t serious at all, it was casual” I cut back and he nodded.
“We texted constantly and I chatted to you on web cam every week, what about that is casual?” he asked and I smiled “The fact it was casual, we never agreed to not see anyone else; we just agreed that we liked each other” I corrected. “Yeah but that meant to me I wasn’t seeing anyone else because I really wanted the chance to be with you, it was casual dating” he defended and I shook my head.
“Friends was what it was and you were there missing me and thinking about me all the time” I teased and he laughed “Alright so I played it cool when I wasn’t, I played like I was friends but I actually was hating the fact we couldn’t date properly straight out. I think I played that game very well” he stated and I nodded “Yeah right up until now” I joked and he smiled ”Well its okay but I got you in the end so I don’t need to keep the game up, your worrying about nothing because I’ll look out for us” he reassured kissing me again and I nodded.
“I know” I admitted and he winked “Good girl, now then McKinnon you best get used to that name being yours” he whispered and I smiled “I think that’s the sickly sweet moment passed, I’m back to being an ass” he stated and I laughed “Yay” I joked and he smiled “I love you. Whoa that slipped out, I thought the moment had passed but obviously not” he joked making me laugh.
“Marry me? Oh wait you already are” he said and I smiled shaking my head “You’re a douche sometimes” I stated and he nodded “But I think that’s part of my charm” he joked. “Yep it is, your jackass qualities were the reason I gave you a chance” I teased and he kissed me “Well I’m glad I’m a fucking jerk sometimes then” he whispered before kissing me again.
The guy rarely lost, in fact if you were going to play him for money you might as well just hand it all over and forget the game because he’d win. Vinny was pretty good but nothing special, I saw what Jeremy had in his hand and recognised it as a good hand so I stuck with the plan kissing his cheek. He smiled kissing me before throwing $50 on the table they were using and Alex folded leaving Vinny.
Half an hour later and Alex had made $100 out of it and we were all playing it cool, I noticed Alex groan quietly as he saw his cards and I saw Jeremy’s were bad as well so I coughed and Jack encouraged Vinny to play big money so he placed $100 on the table straight out. The next thing I knew they were talking $400 and Jeremy was still playing his hand even though it was shocking, Vinny bitched out but Alex stayed raising the money higher until it reached $600. Alex called and Jeremy put his cards down to see Alex had won and my eyes widened.
“Fuck yeah!” Alex shouted fist pumping the air and Jack clapped before realising and stopping and Alex smiled at me. Vinny and Jeremy left to get lunch and I walked to Alex “I want my share right now before you spend it on liquor” I stated and he sighed handing over my part when I heard the door open and I knew we’d been busted. “What’s this?” Jeremy asked and I bit my lip keeping my back to him as I shoved the cash in my pocket “What’s what? I asked turning around smiling.
“You guys, were you playing us? You were weren’t you, you sly bastards” he snapped and I looked at him “What were you doing in all this?” he asked me and I tried to think fast “Hang on you were fucking telling them my hand weren’t you? You were the only one who could see what I had so you must’ve been doing it. You fucked me over to get money, I can’t believe you guys” Jeremy argued.
“No we never, I always get Vinny to play big money because he always loses, the pressure of it gets to him” Jack defended “Yeah and how would I ever know what you had even if she did, what was she giving me some form of signal or something?” Alex asked and I hated him for saying it straight away “You were, you kept kissing my cheek and coughing, you had a system! I cannot believe you, if you needed money I’d give you it but to take it that way is shady” he shouted.
“Its not about needing money, its about the thrill of doing it. If you want the money back you can have it” Alex cut in “No keep your stupid money” Jeremy snapped storming off. “Well done Einstein! Now he’s pissed with me, for that I’m taking an extra $50 from you both because right now the last thing I need is him and me arguing again so I think I deserve it seeing as you talked me into it” I snapped taking it from them and running after Jeremy.
I saw him get on the bus and I followed him “Jeremy” I said and he spun around “What?” he snapped as I shut the door “Sorry” I offered holding the money out and he sighed “I can’t believe you played me, why would you do that?” he asked and I shrugged “They talk and I get carried away, you know that. We were just goofing around, you know we’d never do it seriously” I explained, “I don’t know $600 is pretty serious money darling” he replied and I smiled.
I was still darling so I was still in his good books, “I’ve got $300 of it though” I said putting it in his hand and he shook his head at me as I looked up at him “Don’t look at me like that” he stated and I pouted “Stop it” he snapped and I smiled at him. “I’m serious, I’m mad with you” he stated and I nodded walking to my bunk grabbing my laptop.
I found Benji Madden online and started chatting to him on webcam when I saw the curtain at the side of me move and Jeremy climbed in next to me. “You were supposed to cry and beg for forgiveness not go to bed and chat to someone,” Jeremy stated and I nodded. “Yeah but you weren’t really mad so there was really no point in boosting that ego of yours” I replied and he laughed kissing my cheek “Hey dude!” he said looking at the laptop and laying on his stomach next to me.
Him and Benji started talking before Jeremy yawned “Right I’m going to sleep, talk soon” he said rolling over onto his side wriggling further down the bunk and resting his head on my back. I heard him breathing several minutes later and knew he was asleep, I carried on talking to Benji for ages before he had to go and I said we’d talk soon before turning my laptop off and I felt Jeremy’s hand on my leg.
“You know I’m not letting you go punishment free for this” he said and I smiled before moving to put my laptop on the bunk opposite, he lifted his head and I rolled onto my back. He rested his head on my stomach looking up at me “I’m not joking, you will pay for what you did and when I think of the punishment I’ll tell you” he said as I played with his hair.
“You’d never give me a harsh punishment McKinnon because underneath all this tough guy chat you actually hate seeing me do things I don’t like” I bragged and he scoffed “Sweetie there’s nothing I like more than seeing you do something you hate just because I told you to” he said smiling as he closed his eyes and I pulled his hair hard hoping to hurt him.
“Darling that’d work but you know I love having my hair pulled,” he said and I smiled “You’re a mean boy” I said quietly “Yeah but I’m your mean boy” he replied and I laughed “Your so clichéd sometimes” I replied and he nodded “Only for you, I was a typical guy until I met you and now look what you’ve done to me” he teased and I laughed.
He opened his eyes “You don’t even care you’ve got me hooked do you?” he asked and I laughed ”Nah not really, I mean I’ve been trying to get rid of you for long enough, take a hint” I joked and he laughed “Well you won’t be getting rid of me soon, now shut up so I can fall asleep again” he ordered and I smiled.
He moved up to rest his head next to mine and I dragged my fingers through his hair, “God dammit woman make me fall asleep!” he snapped and I laughed “Oi I want to sleep now send me to fucking sleep, do your job and give me what I want” he demanded and I rolled away from him “Erm nope that’s not going to work, make me sleepy” he snapped and I rolled back to face him.
I smiled as he closed his eyes again and began moving my fingers in circular motions in his hair occasionally tracing my finger around his ear as I closed my own eyes. It fell silent and I presumed he was close to sleep until I felt him kiss me “In coming sickly sweet moment” he warned and I smiled as he pulled himself as close to me as possible. “I know I mess around with the guys, take the piss out of you at every chance I get and we bicker but I’m never serious. I never mean what I say when I tease you about stuff and I’ve never been real angry at you before; okay so I was fuming when you took that ring off but I was more hurt than angry. You’ll always come first with me; I’m yours and whenever you shout I’ll always come running. Nothing and nobody is changing that, I’m not going to lie and say I knew it the moment I met you because I honestly didn’t” he rambled on.
“Charming” I said “Well I didn’t” he replied and I heard the smile in his voice. “We’ve both been through things and had our confidence and our belief in people knocked but I think that’s made us what we are. I only ever expect you to be honest and to be there when I need you, I know you don’t like the idea of me being away so much but you have to trust me. I’ve done this before and I know I can pull us through this, I can get us through these tours and months apart; but you have to promise me that you turn to me and only me” he admitted.
“Jess promise me” he said quietly and I opened my eyes “What do you mean?” I asked and his own eyes fluttered open “The moment you turn to someone else is the moment things fall apart, I’ve been there before darling I know how it works. You turn to someone else to vent to and then suddenly you expect more of them than you should and then you drift from the other person and bam your breaking up. No matter what it is you have to tell me, there’ll be times you want to kill me for choosing this life but I want to hear it, yeah we might argue like we’ve never argued before but I’d rather argue than not talk to you” he explained and I shook my head.
“Sweetie do you trust me?” he asked and I nodded “Then trust that I know what I’m saying, you have to tell me it all. I love that your honest with me, one of the things that makes you stand out to me is that I can tell you it straight and not worry you’ll get hurt; your made of some strong stuff you are and that’s going to come in handy when I tour and your working” he admitted.
“I’m so used to you being here” I said and he nodded “I know and it’s my own fault for staying too long” he replied “I just don’t want to forget about each other, I’ve seen the boys go through it; it’s like you forget to talk one day and suddenly you’ve not spoken for 3 weeks and your not even bothered anymore” I admitted.
“Well that won’t happen because we’ll make sure we talk everyday, plus I remember the end of the last tour after we’d first met. I thought about you everyday, I wanted to see you everyday and we weren’t even together properly; I didn’t know what I was missing back then but I sure do now. You can always come visit as well,” he offered and I shook my head “Yes you can. Shelnutt loves you, well he loves everyone but he thinks your cool” he reasoned.
“I only know him” I replied and he smiled kissing me “That’s just Alex, the others like you but they’re just more reserved I think. They were just wary of who you were and who your friends are, plus you’re a bit of a whirlwind aren’t you?” he asked and I looked at him “Come on your fucking mental, I love you for it but sometimes your crazy. The first non-work conversation you had with them stopped halfway as Jack and you tried to piss Alex off by poking him and dancing around him. See why maybe they were off with you?” he asked and I chewed my lip.
“I thought you were funny and so did Alex but the others just think your strange, they’ll come around when they spend more time with you” he reassured and I smiled at him “What?” he asked “You thought about me everyday but we weren’t even dating” I teased “We were dating, I count it as dating because we agreed not to be with anyone else” he argued back. “Yeah but we both said we weren’t serious at all, it was casual” I cut back and he nodded.
“We texted constantly and I chatted to you on web cam every week, what about that is casual?” he asked and I smiled “The fact it was casual, we never agreed to not see anyone else; we just agreed that we liked each other” I corrected. “Yeah but that meant to me I wasn’t seeing anyone else because I really wanted the chance to be with you, it was casual dating” he defended and I shook my head.
“Friends was what it was and you were there missing me and thinking about me all the time” I teased and he laughed “Alright so I played it cool when I wasn’t, I played like I was friends but I actually was hating the fact we couldn’t date properly straight out. I think I played that game very well” he stated and I nodded “Yeah right up until now” I joked and he smiled ”Well its okay but I got you in the end so I don’t need to keep the game up, your worrying about nothing because I’ll look out for us” he reassured kissing me again and I nodded.
“I know” I admitted and he winked “Good girl, now then McKinnon you best get used to that name being yours” he whispered and I smiled “I think that’s the sickly sweet moment passed, I’m back to being an ass” he stated and I laughed “Yay” I joked and he smiled “I love you. Whoa that slipped out, I thought the moment had passed but obviously not” he joked making me laugh.
“Marry me? Oh wait you already are” he said and I smiled shaking my head “You’re a douche sometimes” I stated and he nodded “But I think that’s part of my charm” he joked. “Yep it is, your jackass qualities were the reason I gave you a chance” I teased and he kissed me “Well I’m glad I’m a fucking jerk sometimes then” he whispered before kissing me again.