Seize The Day.

She walked back to the bus with a smile plastered on her face. Only this time, the smile was real. That morning was just what she needed after a hectic few days like the ones she’d been having. She had her bag of books in her hand that weighed about as much as she did, but she didn’t even feel it in her hand. It was like nothing could bring her down at that point.
She walked onto the bus and all the guys were at the table and sitting on the couch. She smiled and waved at them all as she brought her bag of books to the back. Matt looked at her skeptically, “Where have you been?” She smiled at him, “Well, I went to the store to pick up stuff to make breakfast and then I met this guy and he invited me out to coffee so I figured why not? I mean, I’ve never been here before and probably won’t be here again. So, we went out for coffee and then went to the bookstore. And I think I ended up leaving with about half the store haha.” He shook his head, “Damn, you’re here for all of a few hours and you’re already man-hunting.” She laughed, “Oh shut up. I was not man-hunting okay? He asked me out to coffee. He asked me. And besides, he’s going to the concert tonight anyway.” Brian chuckled, “I still can’t believe you.” She sighed and threw her hands up in the air with a laugh, “I just can’t win with you guys can I?” she paused and waited for them so stop laughing, “Alright, you guys want pancakes or what?” Zacky stood up and hugged her, “Pretty please?” She laughed as she shoved him off, “Yea, yea, yea.”
She did the same thing her uncle used to do for her, she made the pancakes into all different shapes. She even made a guitar one for Zacky. He smiled as she flipped it onto his plate, “Your uncle taught you well.” She smiled and leaned back on the counter, “Yea, he’s a cool guy. You’ll have to meet him if we end up going back.” She looked down at her hands and then suddenly remembered, “Oh! Speaking of meeting people, Tyler wanted to know if he could meet you guys after the show.” Brian looked up and raised his eyebrows curiously, “Tyler?” Jenny laughed, “Yea, Tyler. You know, the guy you said I was supposedly “man-hunting”. That Tyler?” Syn laughed, “Oh, that Tyler. Yea sure, he can chill with us for a while. He’s not gonna be another you though okay?” She smiled, “I figured.”
Arin spoke up for the first time all morning, “Where’d you meet this guy anyway?” Jenny turned to him, “Oh, he was the guy behind the register at the store. Why?” He shrugged, “No reason.” Matt laughed, “Uh-oh, someone’s getting a little protective of their Jennifer.” Jenny laughed and Arin just shook his head. He looked up at Matt, “I was just wondering.” Jenny interrupted before the conversation got any worse, “Well I asked him about the tattoo on his arm since it was lyrics from one of your guys’ songs. And then we started talking about music and then he invited me out to coffee and then I asked him if there were any little bookstores and yea…here we are now haha.” Johnny looked at her, “What song?” She smiled, just happy that Johnny was actually talking to and looking at her, “It was from Gunslinger. He got it for his sister who passed away.” Johnny nodded, “Oh, that’s cool. Not his sister dying, I mean that he got a tattoo for her.” Jenny gave a small laugh as she sat down next to Arin, “Yea, I figured.”
Brian stood up from the table and stretched. “Well,” he said as he put his plates in the sink, “Zacky and I were gonna wander around town for a while since we’re here all day. But I can see that Jenny beat us to it.” She stuck her tongue out at him and he just laughed. Johnny stood up and stretched, “Wait up; I’ll go with you guys.” They all got ready and headed out. Zacky was the last one to leave and he called back to Jenny, “If you need me, call me or Brian okay?” She nodded and smiled at him as he walked out the door. Matt walked in a few seconds later, “Did they leave already?” Jenny laughed as she nodded. “Shit,” he said as he chuckled and grabbed a sweatshirt, “alright, you guys behave while we’re gone.” Jenny gave him a fake salute as he took off out the door.
She leaned back on Arin’s shoulder and slid her hand into his, “You okay? You’re all quiet today.” He looked down at her, “Why didn’t you tell me that you were out with that guy?” She sat up again, “Well I wasn’t planning on it. I mean, I woke up and saw that we had nothing for breakfast so I decided to go shopping. I mean, I figured that it’d be good for you guys to have a home-cooked meal every now and again. That’s one of the advantages to having a girl on board haha.” He didn’t smile back, “Yea but I mean, did you really have to go all over town with the guy?” She sighed, “We just went out for coffee. He seemed like a cool guy with a cool story behind him. Why’s it such a big deal anyway?” He looked down at her, “It’s a big deal because I don’t want to find out that you’re out with some guy from Zacky.” She looked up at him, “Sorry, I didn’t know it’d bother you so much.” He sighed, “Well, why wouldn’t it bother me?” She shrugged, “Well, you don’t mind when I’m with these guys or anything.” He looked at her, “Yea, but I know that none of these guys would ever try anything.” She looked down at her hands, “Alright, well, it won’t happen again okay?” He kissed the top of her head, “I’m sorry, I didn’t want to make you upset with it, I was just kind of…I don’t know…” She looked up at him and gave him a small smile, “It’s okay. Don’t be sorry.” He leaned down and kissed her on the lips. She smiled as she leaned back onto his shoulder again and closed her eyes.
She was still asleep when the guys came back about an hour later. They all walked onto the bus and saw the two of them laying there. Zacky chuckled, “Consider your cover blown kid,” he semi-whispered to Arin. Arin chuckled and waited for the guys to start making all of their jokes. Zacky sat down in his chair at the table and Syn sat down next to him. He turned to Arin, “Alright, please, for the love of God tell me that you two are dating?” Arin smiled, “Yea, we are. But if she asks, I didn’t tell you haha.” Syn laughed but Zacky just shook his head. He looked at Arin, “You know that’s not gonna end well right? You might as well be honest with her. Lying is gonna get you absolutely nowhere.” Arin sighed, “I know. But she’s gonna be pissed.” Zacky laughed, “She’ll get over it man, she really likes you.”
Just as he finished saying that, she stirred and started to wake up. She looked over at Zacky and Brian, “Oh, hey. When did you guys get back?” Syn laughed, “Like five minutes ago babe.” She smiled as she sat up a little bit and snuggled against Arin’s chest, “What’d you guys do?” Johnny laughed as he walked in, “We went and stalked that Tyler kid down at the store.” She looked over at him, “You didn’t really did you?” He laughed and shook his head, “No, just Zacky.” She sat up and looked at Zacky, “What did you do?” He laughed, “Calm down Jenn. I just bought some stuff and I was gonna see if he’d recognize me. Which he did and then he told me that he was going to our concert and everything tonight and blah, blah, blah.” She fell back onto Arin’s shoulder, “Oh, alright. As long as you didn’t hurt him haha.” He just shook his head.
Johnny looked over at her, “So, what are you singing tonight? Are you gonna do your cover song for the new guy?” She laughed, “I thought I was just gonna do Victim.” Johnny shrugged, “I don’t know, Matt said to ask you what you wanted to do.” She thought about it for a second, “Yea, I think I’ll just sing Victim tonight. I wanna dedicate it to his sister.” Zacky smiled, “That’s really nice of you.” She smiled and shrugged, “Well, I mean, I’ve dedicated it to my friends and to Jimmy. I figured I’d put a different story behind it this time. You know, make it special.”
Later they started to bring their stuff to the stage for setup and Arin stopped Jenny as she picked up one of the amps, “Hey, umm, just so you know, Brian asked me about us and I told him.” She smiled, “Oh, okay. Thanks for letting me know.” She kissed him and then walked off the bus. Arin was left there with his jaw on the floor in disbelief. Zacky walked up behind him and patted him on the shoulder, “Told ya.”
Jenny was out on the stage setting up all the amps and microphones when Johnny came out and put his bass on the stand. She turned and looked at him, “Hey, can I see that for a sec so I can plug it in?” He silently nodded and handed it to her. She smiled as she tossed it back to him, “Thanks.” He walked off the stage and as he did she gave a sigh. “I wonder if we’ll ever be friends again,” she wondered to herself, “I wonder…” She went over and attached a note to his bass stand before going back into the dressing room with the guys.
She flopped down on the couch next to Brian and he looked at her and raised his eyebrows. She laughed, “I know that you know about me and Arin you little bum.” Syn laughed and put his arm around her, “I just wanna say, I told you so! I was so right.” She laughed as she leaned back against his shoulder, “Yea, I guess you were. But I don’t have every guy here bowing down to me like you said. Just Arin haha.” He laughed and shook his head, “Oh please, it’s just a matter of time.” Jenny just smiled and closed her eyes and Syn ruffled her hair.
A few mintues later she felt him gently shaking her shoulder, “Hey, start waking up and getting ready there sleepyhead.” She smiled and stretched as she headed out to the bus to get her clothes. She walked up and to the back of the bus and she saw Zacky looking at all of his stage clothes trying to decide which outfit to wear. The amount of diversity in his wardrobe was insane. He had everything from t-shirt with the sleeves cut off, to sweaters that he could’ve worn to a school Christmas concert. He also had all of his hats and glasses set out on the side too. She smiled as she walked up behind him and wrapped her arms around his neck and looked over his shoulder. She pointed down to one of his Misfits shirts, “That one.” He looked back at her and smiled, “You sure?” She nodded, “Yea,” she picked up a pair of his glasses, “and wear these with it.” He looked at her skeptically, “Are you sure that this’ll look okay?” She laughed and nodded, “Take it from a teenage girl who actually knows about style, yes, it will look amazing.” He laughed, “Alright, I’m trusting you.” She giggled and kissed him on the cheek as she picked her clothes up and went back to the dressing room.
When she walked in she saw all the guys ready to go, except for Brian who was still fixing his hair. She chuckled and shook her head as she put on her stage clothes and straightened her hair. She turned to Brian, “Alright, since you’re the hair expert, how should I wear it tonight?” Syn laughed, “Well, since you’re performing for your little boy-toy out there in the crowd, I’d do it like this.” He sat her down in the chair and spun her around so she wouldn’t be able to see what he was doing. When he finally spun her back around so she could see what he’d done, she was actually really happy with what he’d done to it. “Wow,” she said as she turned her head from side to side in the mirror, “you actually know what you’re doing haha.” He smiled and patted her shoulder, “You don’t need to tell me that.” She kept looking at herself in the mirror, and for once, she actually liked what she saw. He had taken two locks of her hair that were black and pulled them and connected them in the back so you could really see them over the rest of her bright red hair (which she died again thanks to a little help from Zacky). And he straightened her bangs so they fell perfectly over her right eye and she made the end of all the other hair flip up a little bit.
She turned back to him and gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek, “Thank you! You’re gonna be my stylist from now on haha.” He laughed as he sat back down, “As long as I’m yours and not Zacky’s.” She laughed, “I was just helping him pick out an outfit back on the bus.” She walked over to her bag and pulled out her case of makeup and walked back over to the mirror. She put on her concealer and eye-liner and was about to put on eye shadow when she saw Zacky’s hand tattoo reach over her shoulder and take it from her, “Nope. You’re not putting any more makeup on tonight.” She looked up at him questioningly, “Why not?” He laughed, “You look good enough without it.” He put the makeup back in her bag and closed it up. She sighed as she sat down on the couch next to Arin, “Fine, whatever you say. But, I’m telling you, I look a lot better with it.” Arin laughed as he put his arm around her, “Oh just let it go. You look great without it. One concert without eye shadow isn’t gonna kill you.” She laughed as she leaned back against his shoulder, “Okay, but if I die, you guys all need to stay away from my funeral haha.”
Matt walked in, “Alright, you guys ready to go?” All the guys nodded and Jenny just looked at him, “Going shirtless tonight I see?” Matt laughed, “Is that a problem?” She smiled as she walked up and patted his chest, “Not at all. In fact, you should do it more often.” Matt laughed as he followed everyone out onto the stage. Jenny ran back in quick and grabbed her ring off the table; she had forgotten that she took it off when she went to do her hair.
Johnny walked over to his bass stand and saw the note from Jenny. He picked it up and put it in his pocket without reading it, figuring he could read it later when he didn’t have to worry about missing notes in the song. He couldn’t help but to wonder what it said though, and it was torturing him all throughout the concert.
When it was finally Jenny’s turn to sing Victim, she walked to the middle of the stage of her microphone and introduced herself. Then, “Alright, so, this song is going out to one of my friends that’s in the crowd tonight. His name’s Tyler. Tyler, this goes out to you and your sister.” And with that, she started the song. Matt watched her in awe; it was like every time she dedicated it to someone, it sounded better and better. When she finished, she pushed her bangs out of her face and took a bow.
She was walking back over to where her mic stand was when she looked down and saw a familiar pair of dark brown eyes looking up at her. She smiled and waved to him. She gave him a high five as the band dimmed down the lights for So Far Away. She went back up to the drum platform with Arin as they played. For the last few concerts they had been doing an acoustic version of the song with just Zacky and Syn playing their guitars, so that meant Arin didn’t have to drum. Even though they always hung out together during the song, neither of them spoke a word. She just stood next to him in silence as they watched the guys perform the hardest song they ever played. When the song started winding down to its end, Jenny slid silently back to her microphone stand.
They finished the concert with Danger Line and then it was time for all of them to do their exits and throw their things into the crowd. Arin picked Jenny up and kissed her on the lips and walked off stage. She smiled at him and waved to the crowd as they disappeared.
She threw her arms around him in a hug. He smiled at her, “I love you.” She smiled back and gave him a quick kiss, “I love you too.” They walked into the dressing room with the guys. They all sat around and talked for a little while and then Jenny slid out of the room to go and find Tyler. He was outside the back door just like she had told him. She waved as she walked up and gave him a hug. “So,” she said to him smiling, “what’d you think?” He smiled, “You guys are fucking amazing!” he paused, “Oh, and thank you for dedicating that to my sister. It means a lot.” She smiled, “No prob. Oh, you wanna meet the guys now?” He nodded and she led him into the room.
They all sat around and talked, much like when Jenny had met them. Tyler asked them all about themselves and Jimmy and just anything that came to his mind. Jenny smiled as she sat down and watched him get so excited. Arin wrapped his arm around her and she smiled as she leaned back against him. “How long are you guys here for?” Tyler asked. Matt shrugged, “I don’t know really. A couple more days I think. No more concerts here though. Just gonna have a few chill days.” Tyler nodded, “Cool. I can show you guys around if you want.” Zacky laughed, “I think Jenny was the only one who didn’t know the place haha. Thanks though.” Tyler looked at his phone, “Shit, I gotta go. I need to help my dad close up the store. Thank you guys so much for letting me chill with you.” Syn smiled, “No problem man.” Jenny stood up and helped Tyler off the couch, “I’ll walk with you.” He smiled, “Thanks.” She walked him to the edge of the parking lot and they said their goodbyes. He kissed her on the cheek and then got into his car and drove off.
When she got back to the dressing room all the guys were already bringing their stuff back to the bus. She helped them move all of it and then she flopped down on the couch and fell asleep. They guys stayed up a little while longer and talked about the show and then slowly, one by one, they all started heading off in their own directions as well.
Johnny was the last one up. He pulled the note out of his pocket and when he read it, he couldn’t believe that the words were real. The paper dropped out of his hands and onto the table. He looked over at Jenny and put his head in his hands. He kissed her on the cheek and headed back to his room in pure shock. He laid in his bed just re-reading the note over and over again, “I’m sorry. There’s nothing more for me to really say. But I’m sorry. Don’t worry though; I won’t be hurting you much longer. I’m heading home in a couple of weeks.”