Fifteen Ways to Survive Warped Tour

"C'mon, Tesslyn, take another shot." Jack slurred, splashing some vodka into the shot glass and passing it my way.

"I don't wanna." I groaned, but still brought the shot up to my lips, causing Jack to grin in delight. Alex, sitting only about a foot away from me on the couch, smiled slightly, his eyes watching my lips and the alcohol slid past them.

I usually wasn't much of a drinker, and when I did drink, most times it was just a few light drinks. I never got too drunk... but tonight, well, I was already well on my way of being shit wasted. After five beer and three shots, I wasn't doing to well on my feet.

"To be honest," Rian started, looking at me, "I didn't expect you to be so much fun. No offensense, of course! But like... you're really cool to hang out with." He took a long sip of beer. I appreaciated the compliment, and smiled, but I knew the only reason I was probably being any fun at all was my blood alcohol level.

"Guys, if I go to bed will you be quiet? I'm fucking exhausted." Zack asked, as he wandered over the the bunks. Rian, Alex, and I nodded, and Jack only frowned.

"You're going to bed? Whyyyy?" He whined.

"Jack, honestly, I'm tired too." Alex said, and I could tell from his voice he was. It was slow, gruff...sexy. I shook my head, inching slightly away from his body heat, feeling a bit uncomfortable. "I think most of us are.."

"Yeah, I think they're making us play pretty early tomorrow, too. We should get some sleep." Rian agreed, downing the last of his beer and setting the empty can on the floor. As far as I could tell, Zack had already climbed into bed.

"Look, how long have we been driving for?" I asked, definitely not sure how long it'd actually been. Time flies when you're having fun... or just really drunk.

"I dunno..." Jack said, shrugging. "Why?"

"Well, we could just go to sleep until we get to the venue, then mess around some more..."

His face lit up, and he nodded. "Okay, that sounds good. I'm not at all tired though, so I'll just... be up here, doing... I dunno."

"Hey, Tess, do you want to take my bunk?" Alex asked, his eyes looking into mine. I melted under his gaze.

"No, no, Alex, it's okay. I can't take your bunk."

"Sure you can. You won't be able to sleep on the couch with Jack up here, and I've learned to tune him out... so." He shrugged, with a slight smile.

"Well... If you're sure." I smiled back, slowly getting onto my feet. I wobbled towards the bunks. I tilted heavily to one side, and grasped the wall for support. As I stumbled on my way over, I felt a warm arm wrap around my waist, catching me before I fell.

"A little tipsy?" Alex breathed into my ear, squeezing me up against his side and guiding me to the bunk.

"A little..." I giggled, resting my head on his shoulder, and clutching him tightly. I normally wasn't a really flirty person, not at all, actually... but it was a mixture of alcohol, and my recent break up that had be scrabbling all over Alex, and at the time, I didn't even feel bad about it.

"I can tell..." He chuckled, opening the little curtain, and letting me crawl in to the bunk. My legs shook until I was cuddled under the blankets, with my head on the pillow. Alex kneeled down beside me, his eyes again focused on my lips.

"Think you'll be able to sleep?" He asked, as I slowly shut my eyes.

"Yeah..." I murmered, my head still spinning even with my eyes closed. It was such a relief to be in bed.

"Good..." I heard him say softly, and I felt warm breath on my skin before his soft lips pressed to my cheek.

Under normal circumstances, I would've pulled away, or said something. I didn't even know the guy, and my feelings for Kellin hadn't gone down at all, but I only smiled when I felt Alex pull away, and shut the curtain so I could get some sleep. I tried to blame it on the booze, and that probably was a factor, but I couldn't entirely pin it on that. There was something about Alex that was comforting, but I couldn't entirely place it.

I wondered until I finally passed out.

--

My sleep was extremely short lived.

I was awoken, as we all were, by Jack yelling something about us needing to "get over here and check this out"

I dragged myself out of the bunk, sobered up slightly(still a bit dizzy and giggly, but I didn't want to puke or pass out), followed by an extremely grumpy looking Zack and Rian. Alex was already beside Jack, looking out the bus window.

"Jack, what is it?" I groaned, taming my messy hair as best I could with my hands.

"Look. We're literally, like, two streets away from the venue, and there is a MASSIVE outdoor pool!" He jabbed his finger at the glass just in time for me to catch the pool dissappearing in the distance. "We're going."

I didn't say anything, just examined everyone else's expressions. They were a bit skeptical, all of them, me included, but I could see a smirk turn up on Alex's lips, and that was enough for me.

"So...what are we gonna do... Break in?" I asked, looking to the others for confirmation. Jack just nodded, gleefully. "Okay... how?"

"There's a fence we can climb." Jack answered, just as the bus pulled into the venue, and parked convieniently close to the exit. "You guys all want to?"

"I dunno, Jack..." Rian started, but then just shook his head. "I mean, I guess so..."

Zack simply rolled his eyes, and nodded.

"Jack, if we get arrested or something, I'll fucking kill you... but I'm definitely doing it, so let's go." Alex said, and he was at the door before I could even think of what we were getting ourselves into.

I followed Alex out of the bus, trailing slowly behind him, looking at my feet. Kellin and I never did anything fun like this, because we had to sneak around. Looking back, we hardly did anything at all.

Alex seemed to know something was on my mind, because he slowed, letting the rest go ahead, until he was at my side. "Are you alright?" He asked.

"Er, yeah. Yeah, I'm alright..." I said quietly, looking up at his concerned expression. "It's just been a rough couple of days." I shrugged.

"Want to talk about it? You... don't have to, but sometimes, it helps..."

He smiled, and I subconciously smiled back... and that's when I realized, I liked him. I liked his humour, and his gentle looks, and the way his voice sounded when he said the simplest things. I liked him, just enough to not want to tell him about Kellin. "One day."

He nodded, seemingly pleased with this answer, and wrapped his arm around my shoulders as we kept walking. The rest of the way to the pool was silent, but not uncomfortably so. We all just seemed to be enjoying the night.

We finally reached the fenced in area, with "No Trespassing" signs. We wordlessly paused, exchanged looks, and still, without a word, Jack starting climbing the fence, Rian and Zack following.

"Do you need help?" Alex asked as he approached the fence. The others were already over, and by the pool side.

"No, I'm fine." I giggled, hoisting myself up, and climbing the fence.

"Tesslyn, I admire you." He laughed, watching me as my feet hit the ground on the other side of the fence, as he started climbing.

I looked around as the automatic lights came on, illuminating Jack, already stripped down to his boxers. I awkwardly walked to the edge of the pool, sitting down, and dipping my feet in as he leaped in, splashing water all over.

"Are you coming in?" He screamed at me once he'd bobbed to the surface, shaking his wet hair, and once again, splashing me.

"I dunno," I said, watching Jack and Rian lower themselves into the pool.

"C'mon!"

"Well, she doesn't have to. She is the only girl." Alex said, walking up from behind me. His shirt fell to the ground beside me, and I heard the zipper of his jeans go down. I bit my lip and stared at the water, trying to distract myself. A very hot guy was just stripping behind me. No big deal.

"No, no..." I stood up, facing Alex, trying not to examine his body. "I'll go in."

He smiled. "Alright, good." He had a nice body. It wasn't too muscular, but it was lean, toned... which was what I liked. He was wearing dark gray boxer briefs as well, but I tried to keep my eyes from wandering there. "We can go in together."

I nodded, and started awkwardly removing my clothes. I wasn't wearing some sexy, lacy Victoria's Secret underwear with matching bra or anything... nothing particularly dazzling. Just a black bra, and pink boyshorts. If it weren't for the alcohol that was still boiling in my system, I would have been pretty self conscious.

"Ready?" Alex asked, standing at the pool side. As soon as I nodded, he grabbed my hand, and we jumped into the pool.

The second I hit the water, I scrambled closer to Alex, pressing our bodies right up to one another. He wrapped his arms around my waist, and I savoured the skin contact until we reached the surface, and broke apart, grinning at each other.

Cheesy as it all sounds, I was getting butterflies. Happy butterflies, not "oh my god are we going to get caught" butterflies. Like, I like this guy and he's so adorable, and maybe he thinks I am too butterflies.

"Just make out already." Jack yelled, popping up behind Alex and nudging him closer to me.

"No, Jack." He said, taking a step back. Despite me not wanting to rush things and turn him into a total Kellin rebound, I felt a bit rejected. "I'd at least kiss her first, c'mon. I'm a gentleman."

I smiled, nodding at Jack. "That's right. We're classy."

"Sure, says the naked people." Jack said, casually swimming away.

"You're naked too, Jack!" Alex shot back, splashing a wave of water at him before turning back to me.

He once again wrapped his arms around my waist, hovering right at my hips as to not impose. He didn't seem to be touching me like he wanted in my pants... it seemed like he liked the comfort as much as I did.

"Sorry about him..." Alex started quietly, while the others flailed around in the water.

"It's okay," I giggled, my eyes locked on his. "He's just teasing. My friends would do the same to me."

"I don't want you to get the wrong idea..."

"Alex." I said, placing my hands firmly on his chest. "Don't worry. You're a good guy. I hope."

He smiled slightly, breaking our gaze for a moment before looking back up. "Yeah, I hope so too."

It was then we all noticed the headlights shining against the water. We were frozen, staring at the car that had pulled up by the fence we'd just jumped. The car door opened, and someone came out.

I immediately felt stupid for thinking we could get away with this. Yes, it was three in the morning, but there could have been a silent alarm, and we weren't exactly quiet. Someone could've called the person that owned the place. It wasn't too big of a deal, but to think we'd leave the pool with no one knowing was stupid.

"Hey! What are you doing in there?!"

Then Jack said one word.

"Run."

And we went into a frenzy, scrabbling out of the pool, and sprinting to the oppisite fence. I didn't even bother grabbing my clothes, whereas the others did. I just took off, pulling myself over the fence, and running barefoot through the field behind it.

It didn't take to long to reach the road again, where we decided we were safe again. We all stood on the curb, panting, naked, and soaking wet, the others holding bundles of clothes in their hands. We looked at each other, once over, twice... and just started laughing.

And for a brief moment, I forgot all about Kellin.